Just the beginning
by BlackWidow2012
Summary: Just as 3, 4, 7, and 9 begin to settle in to life without war, they discover a shocking secret that pulls them right back into it.
1. The apprentice

**The Apprentice**

_10 days after the first rain:_

9, 7, 3, and 4 sat in the first room paying their respects to the scientist. They were after 9 announced that he wanted to give the scientist a proper farewell.

"Goodbye and thank you" 9 said. As he turned to leave something caught his optics.

"This is odd" he said as he saw that the recording device the scientist used to give his final message was still on.

"What's wrong 9" 7 asked him after she noticed he was staring at something.

"It's the recording device, I know it turned off when the message was over but it seems it turned back on."

"That is strange" 7 said, more than a little puzzled.

9 saw 3 and 4 come closer and start flashing messages between themselves. Then he was struck with an idea.

"3, 4. Do you know anyway to rewind the message?" he asked them.

3 and 4 flashed a brief message then began to forage around the room until they found a large hexagonal object. The two stuck the object into a slot in the device and began to turn.

5 minutes later they couldn't turn it any more and removed the object. The message then began to replay itself and the 4 waited until the message ended and the device turned off.

"9, it just must have been a mistake." 7 told him.

"Wait." 9 said holding his arm out.

A minute later the device turned back on, but this time it showed the face of young boy that looked to be in his mid-teenage years.

_"9 I hope you have waited and found my message." _The image said in a hassled and tired voice. _"If you are listening to this I have no time to explain my position. All I can tell is that you must take the talisman down to the basement and activate it. Farewell._

The image then disappeared leaving all of them speechless.

9 was the first to recover and he began to run down to the basement, pulling the talisman out of his zipper as he did so.

"9, wait!" 7 yelled as she chased after him. She finally caught him at the bottom of the basement stairs laying the talisman down.

"9, what if it's a trap?" she said as she grabbed his arm.

"That was a human leaving that message 7. How can it be a trap?" 9 asked her.

"I don't know." She said. "But I just have a bad feeling about this."

"O.k." 9 said, letting his feelings for 7 make the decision. "How about we grab our weapons, then activate it?"

"Alright." 7 sighed as she knew that 9 would probably activate despite what she thought, though she liked having something her way.

After they grabbed their weapons they went back down to the basement with 3 and 4. 9 picked up the talisman and pressed in the sequence to activate it then threw it away to avoid being captured by it on accident.

The talisman began to glow and shake as it normally did. Then it split open and released three beams of green energy that arced in the air and disappeared into the confines of the basement. The talisman then suddenly snapped closed and the beams of energy receded into the basement.

The four sat dumbfounded for a few seconds. 9 was the first to recover again.

"Come on!" he said, scooping up the talisman as he ran towards the area where the energy beams had gone.

3, 4, and 7 chased after him as he climbed, weaved, jumped, and ducked through the chaos of the basement. They all stopped at an area where there was a raised platform. They had stopped there because, while everywhere else had a good amount of dust covering it, this area was somewhat clear.

"9, this is certainly strange." 7 said "But there's nothing here. It was just a wild goose chase."

"You're right 7. I had just gotten my hopes up that this would lead to a way to restore humanity." He said, once again revealing the question that still made them all wonder. "Let's go." 9 said.

They made their way back through all the junk that riddled the basement, finally reaching the stairs and climbing their way back up them.

Watching them, a figure stood upon a ceiling beam and raised his weapon aiming for the lead stichpunk. Just as it was about to deliver a killing blow it reconsidered and lowered its weapon, deciding to wait and watch, then decide what to do with these life forms.

_A week later:_

9 and 7 were out scavenging for supplies for them to tinker with and to devise new weapons out of when they felt a foreboding shiver run through their bodies. They both tensed up and looked at each other, one look telling them both that they each had come to the same conclusion. Something was out there.

"What should we do?" 9 asked, letting 7's warrior instinct decide how to proceed.

"Stay together and don't wander off until we know everything's clear." 7 replied.  
They both began to cautiously walk through the deserted streets with their weapons raised. They stayed like this for over an hour and a half, their raised senses jumping at every sound.

"I think we're clear." 7 said finally relaxing her grip on her spear.

9 took some extra glances around before lowering his light staff.

"I think you're right." He said.

Immediately a machine that resembled a spider jumped down from a building and landed upon 7, knocking her bird skull helmet off.

"7!" 9 yelled as he ran towards her wielding his light staff dangerously. He never got the chance to use it as a chord wrapped around his leg, yanking him down and throwing his light staff out of his hands. He flipped over to find another machine, similar to the one on top of 7, pulling him towards it.

7 was able to shove her spear into one of the machines' leg joints causing it to collapse and allowing her to get out from under it, yanking her spear out as she did so.

She turned around to see 9 being picked by another spider-bot and positioned in front of its' fangs. She began to run towards him but was knocked aside by another one of the other spider-bots' legs.

9 watched as the spider-bot opened its' fangs and transmitted an electrical current between them. 9 knew this current would be enough to kill him and, in a last ditch effort, unsheathed the small blade he had acquired from making his light staff and slashed out feeling it connect and slice of one of the fangs.

The spider-bot let out a metallic screech of anger as the electrical current was shut off. 9 was allowed a moment of triumph, but it was cut short as the spider-bot slammed him to the ground. It pinned him in place with one of its legs and raised the other. A long, slender blade swung out and raised a bit more. 9 looked over to see 7 completely trapped in the other spider-bots legs, her spear 5 feet away from her. He saw the spider-bot transmit the current between its fangs and began to lower them to 7. 9 knew this was the end and was sad that not only was he not able to protect 7, but that he knew that once they were dead the spider-bots would then easily find and kill 3 and 4.

Suddenly 9 heard a quiet, but shrill, whistling sound. Then he heard the spider-bot holding 7 give a quick shriek and saw the electrical current stop and watched as it fell to the ground lifeless. The spider-bot holding him looked at its fallen brother then looked in another position slightly behind it. 9 heard the whistle again and saw the spider-bots' head jerk back in his direction, this time with a sewing needle stuck firmly in the middle of its eight eyes.

The spider-bot also fell to the ground lifeless and 9 jumped to his feet and ran to 7 to check on her condition.

"7, are you alright?" 9 asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she said "What was it that killed those spider-bots?"

"I don't know." 9 said. He turned around to look in the direction his spider-bot had looked before it died. He and 7 gasped as they saw a figure standing on top of a roof top, cloak billowing in the wind. They stared for a full minute and watched as the figure then slid down the angled roof, hit the rain gutter with its feet, and somersaulted on to the ground.

As the figure came closer they saw that it was another stichpunk made of burlap with a zipper running down his/her front. When the other stichpunk finally reached them he/she looked them over and finally spoke.

"Are you two alright?" he asked them in a clearly male voice. They both nodded in quiet shock. He then walked over to 9's spider-bot, inspected it to be sure it was dead, then removed his needle and putting it behind his back out of view of 9 and 7. He repeated the action with 7's spider-bot and this time they saw him replace the needle in a quiver with about another two dozen others. They also saw a metal bow strung over his shoulder and a beautifully crafted double-bladed scalpel staff strapped to his back.

"Who are you?" 9 finally asked.

He turned around to the both of them and said "My name is Daniel Sauers. I was the scientists' apprentice.


	2. The message

Disclaimer: I do not own 9. Shane Acker does.

Authors' note: Hey everybody. Thanks for reading the first chapter. This is my first fanfic ever and I hope it turned out fairly well. For future reference to the other chapters, 3 and 4 are girls and the year is 2015. Enjoy!

The Message

"You're the boy from the message!" 9 said in understanding. "What are you doing as a stichpunk?" he asked.

"Before I answer your questions, where are the other seven?" Daniel asked.

"1, 2, 5, and 8 are dead." 7 said sadly. "It's only me, 9, 3, and 4 that are left."

9 looked to the ground guiltily and Daniel instantly understood that 9's natural curiosity must have been the cause for their demise.

"Whatever happened 9, it's not your fault." He said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Now you need to take me to where you're living and tell me all that's happened."

"Alright." 9 and 7 said at the same time. They set off through the town with their weapons at the ready in case of another machine attack. Daniel was looking around the town with a needle nocked in his bow string. He let out a sad sigh and said.

"I knew this would happen some day."

9 and 7 turned to look at him and said in a surprised tone "You did!"

"Well, not like this. The human race was a destructive one. It was in our nature to squander our gifts and use them to destroy ourselves."

"You really are the scientists' apprentice." 9 said "'Squander our gifts' was the exact phrase he used in his message to me."

"Yeah." Daniel said. "The human race was not all bad. There were a select few, like the scientist and myself, that knew we should use our gifts for peace and equality, not power and gain. You and the other stichpunks are living proof that the human soul is naturally good, but it can be easily corrupted by the wrong ideals and influences.

They finally reached the library and walked inside.

"3! 4! We're back! 7 yelled. In response the two twin stichpunks ran from an old book they were cataloging and hugged 7 and 9. They then noticed Daniel and quickly hid behind them.

"3, 4, this is Daniel. He saved our lives from two machines." 3 and 4 flashed at 9 in surprise at the mention of other surviving machines then ran to Daniel who was kneeling and holding his arms out.

"I remember when the scientist created you two." He said. He took out his bow quiver, arrows, and staff, laying them on the ground. "The scientist said you two would have a personality to catalog everything you saw to gain more knowledge." 3 and 4 quickly picked up his weapons and began to catalog every detail of them.

He chuckled quietly to himself as the two finished their cataloging and handed his weapons back to him.

"The scientist knew what personalities we would have?' 7 asked in an astonished voice.

"Well, yes." Daniel said. "It was his soul after all."

"Oh, right." 7 said, rubbing the back of her head and looking away, looking more than a little embarrassed. 9 then asked something that had been on his mind for the past few minutes.

"In the message you said you didn't have enough time to explain your position. Why?" he asked.

"It was the gas." Daniel explained. "It was already in my system and I had to transfer my soul to the talisman quickly or I would have died."

"Then where's your body?" 7 asked. "It's not in the first room."

"It fell through a hole in the floor after the transfer happened." He said. "I found it in a small room where it fell. Now what's happened?" His voice suddenly turned business like.

9 launched into a recount of all the events that happened starting from when he woke up. Daniel listened intently to the 9 recount. He interrupted when 9 reached the capturing of 6's soul.

"So, our mission now is to destroy the Fabrication Machine." Daniel said firmly.

"We already destroyed it." 7 said proudly.

"WHAT!" Daniel shouted.

"Yep, already done." She said smugly.

"Where?" He shouted.

"Down there." 9 said, pointing in a particular direction. "Why do you wan…" 9 never finished his sentence as Daniel took off running at full speed where 9 had pointed. They all looked at each other in surprise then took off running after him, grabbing their weapons as they raced past them.

"It's already destroyed!" 9 yelled after him.

"No! You don't understand!" he yelled back.

9 and 7 chased him up and down piles of junk as he raced through the emptiness. Every time they came to the top of one they were surprised to find he was already at the bottom, racing away.

"He's fast." 7 panted as they reached the top of another pile. 9 looked over at 7 and saw a gleam in her eye as they started after him again. He felt a pang of jealousy and decided to distract 7.

"We'll never catch him like this 7. The only way to find out what he's going to do is to beat him to the fabrication machines' body." He said.

"I know that 9, but how can we?" she asked.

"The tunnel." He said with certainty. "The body is right at its ending."

7 looked at him in surprise, the admiration.

"Let's do it." She said. They both looked and saw that Daniel had already passed the tunnel entrance. They raced into it and 9 turned on his light staff. As they ran through the tunnel a thought began to worm its way into his mind. He didn't have to worry about voicing it though, as 7 did for him.

"9." 7 said with a worried tone. "What if Daniel is trying to resurrect the Fabrication Machine?"

"I've been thinking that myself 7." He said. "I'm hoping it isn't true, but if it is, we have to take the appropriate actions." They both looked at each other, then 3 and 4. With this in mind they each gripped their weapons tighter and ran even faster to the end of the tunnel.

When they reached the end they all stopped in surprise as they saw Daniel was already there, fiddling with its body.

"How did he…?" 9 started, but then charged at Daniel with his weapon raised high as he saw him take something out of his chest and put it in the machine.

"What are you doing?" 9 yelled as he stopped within a foot of Daniel (remember their only 6 inches tall). Daniel barely looked at 9 as he was staring at a sequence of 1s and 0s that 9 recognized as binary code.

"Daniel if you don't tell us what you're doing we'll be forced to kill you!" 7 yelled stepping next to 9. Again Daniel barely moved as he studied the code. They both looked at each other, and then raised their weapons as they took a step towards him.

"NOOOO!" Daniel yelled, slamming his fists upon the scorched metal. "Son of a BITHCH!" he yelled again, this time punching through the hologram displaying the binary code.

Daniel, what's wrong." 9 said with a worried tone.

Daniel then whipped around, his cloak seeming to blur in 9 and 7's eyes. "You." He said in an angry whispered tone. The look in his eyes made them step back. They were full of accusation and blind anger making him look demonic.

"You." He said again in the same tone, this time taking a step towards 9. Then he seemed to relent and close his eyes taking a deep breath and letting his anger subside. "We need to get back to the library, then I'll tell everything." He finally said, looking around the landscape. "Let's go."

They raced back through the emptiness this time staying on their pace. 9, 7, 3, and 4 stayed slightly behind all looking at each other and thinking about the way Daniel had looked in that moment of blind fury. They made it back into the library just as the sun began to set.

All right Daniel, what's going on?" 7 asked.

"You're going to want to sit down." Daniel said. 9, 3, and 4 did so but 7 remained standing with her arms crossed. "I was racing back to the scientists' house as fast as I could, trying to give him important information before it was too late. When I arrived I saw his body on the ground and you hanging on the string 9. I knew it was too late and in my sorrow I hatched a new plan. I recorded my message after the scientists and put my stichpunk down in the basement. I then transferred my soul to the talisman. The reason I became a stichpunk in the first place is because I had just learned a terrible secret belonging to the Chancellor. There were three other Fabrication Machines made.

They all gasped at this surprising news and 7 sat down in shock, but Daniel still had more to tell. "The other three were created out of the intelligence of the Chancellor but were left inactivated." They all breathed a sigh of relief seeing that they dodged a huge bullet. "What I found at your Fabrication Machine was this." Daniel then pulled his device out again and turned it on, displaying a hologram of binary code. "This shows that the Fabrication Machine sent out a message before it died. It was an S.O.S. Hidden within this message is three activation codes. This is why I reacted the way I did when I learned you destroyed the Fabrication Machine. If I had been there when it was destroyed I could have stopped the transmission, but it's too late, the others are awake and active. That's where those spider-bots that attacked you came from."

7, 9, 3, and 4 stared at him in quiet disbelief. 7 then shook her head.

"Well we defeated our Fabrication Machine and now that we know how to defeat them it will be easy." She said confidently.

No, it won't." Daniel said. "You faced a Fabrication Machine born of the scientists' intelligence. These others are born of the Chancellors'. They will have all of his military knowledge and his ruthlessness. Not to mention they are most likely of a more advanced design. Sorry to say but what faced was easy compared to the others. What you guts thought was the end… is really just the beginning."

Authors' note: For those of you who are wondering, this story will contain sexual scenes not fit for those under the age of 18. I will be creating an edited version for younger readers so I do not get killed by other readers' parents. Please review.


	3. Before it's too late

Authors' note: Thanks for the reviews, you guys rock. JuliaPhobia, I welcome some constructive criticism, so fire away. Him666yGir, your English is very good, it's better than my Spanish so you'll just have to put up with English with me. Netbug009, you'll get your wish for this chapter as it's at a slower pace. Please write more reviews.

Disclaimer: I do not own 9.

**Before it's too late**

The last three weeks had been nothing but training for the 5 stichpunks. Even 3 and 4 were training with their own weapons, double knives.

Daniel had spent the first 5 days finding, sharpening, and balancing scalpel blades for the two stichpunks to use in battle. When he presented the knives to the group, 7 questioned his decision for their weapons to consist of just two knives.

"3 and 4 are the smallest of us all, shouldn't they get better weapons?" 7 asked when Daniel handed the weapons to 3 and 4.

"7, 3 and 4's size make double knives the perfect weapon for them." He said.

He saw 7 was still skeptical so he decided to give a little demonstration.

"3 let me see your knives." 3 gave him the knives. "Now, see those wood blocks over there?" Daniel pointed and they all saw a few wooden blocks placed at different distances. "Now look closely at the nearest one." He said. They all stared at it intently; trying to see what was different. While their attention was focused on the wood block, Daniel flipped one knife in his hand, caught it by the point, hauled back, and threw it. Quick as a flash it spun end over end and embedded itself deeply into the center of the wooden block.

3, 4, 7, and 9 all gasped and looked back at Daniel, amazed at his skill.

"Both of the knives I gave you are perfectly balanced and are weighted at the hilt so the point will be driven home." He explained. "You'll notice that this blade is larger than the on I threw. This is your standard fighting knife. The one I threw is your standard throwing knife. Throwing knives are smaller because they aren't that effective in close quarters fighting, and vice versa for the fighting knives."

"But why two?" 7 asked again.

"Good question. I'll show you." Daniel said walking over to the first target and gently pulling the knife out. He walked back over to them and said "Now 7, I want you to take your spear and try to kill me with it.

"WHAT!" 9 and 7 said in unison.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." He said.

7 turned and looked at the others. They shrugged their shoulders as a symbol to follow what he said. She shook her head and sighed, then she performed her standard attack, a jumping, over-hand strike. She was surprised when she felt her spear stop dead in its tracks.

She looked up to see her blade caught on the larger blade. Normally this attack would have knocked the blade out of his hand, but the fighting knife was being supported by the throwing knife, cross-braced just behind the fighting knife.

"This is the secret of the double knives." Daniel said. "The throwing knife will brace the fighting knife and give it the leverage to stop any attack. Go on 7, try again." 7, angered by the jest, let loose a series of side-hands, over-hands, and back-hands. All of the attacks were blocked again and again by the defense.

7 went for a side-hand to over-hand feint hoping to catch him off guard. Again she was blocked, but this time something different happened. She felt her hands tilt upward and when she looked up she saw Daniel's face right in front of hers with her spear angled off diagonally. She tried to move it but found that it was stuck. She looked down to see Daniel had slid the fighting knife down the shaft, near her hands, and had twisted it so the hilt of the knife locked her spear in place. She looked back into his face and he gave her a playful smile. 9 saw this and felt another pang of jealously.

"Now it's my turn." Daniel said and 7 felt something pressed against her chest. She looked down to see the throwing knives' point against her chest, just over her mechanical heart.

"As you can see, I have just put 7 into a death situation. I can also stab into the temple." He said putting the point easily on her temple. "Sometimes though, you may just want to disable only, so you can also stab here and here." He said again, putting the point of the knife on the back of her knee and onto her side as he did so.

He finally unlocked the hilt and stepped back from 7.

"Now do you have any other questions?" he asked.

"No." 7 said, a little angry for being defeated so easily. They then retired for the day. The next day Daniel went off with 3 and 4 to hone their skills with the double knives and work on their endurance, agility, and stealth. 9 and 7 went into their own training regimen of sparring with each other and running through the town.

About a week and a half later 9 and 7 decided to watch 3 and 4 train during one of their rests. They watched and were amazed at how fast the twins had become accurate in throwing the knives and how good they were at blocking Daniel's scaled down attacks and performing the slide-and-lock technique.

7 turned to 9.

"Hey 9, how about we spar with Daniel?" she asked him.

She still harbored an anger towards Daniel at how easily he had showed her up ten days ago. 9 could see this was a little relieved.

"Sure." He said "Between the two of us and our new skills we should be able to beat him."

When they saw the three take a rest they walked over to Daniel.

"Hey Daniel" 7 said a little loudly "We were wondering if you would spar with us." Daniel looked up at the both of them and saw their confidence.

"Both of you?" he sighed. "Sure, why not. 3! 4! Our training is done for today. Wanna watch 9 and 7 spar against me? He asked them.

3 and 4 looked at 9 and 7, and then nodded their heads vigorously. Both of them knew that, individually, neither 7 or 9 possessed the skill to defeat Daniel, but with both of them together they might have a chance.

"Alright then. 9, 7 lead the way." Daniel said. They led him to their sparring area. 3 and 4 scrambled up to a rooftop to get a full view of the battle.

"We don't want you to hold back Daniel." 7 said after they took their positions ten feet away from him. Daniel knew that this request came from 7's hurt ego that had resulted after the demonstration.

She wanted to beat him at his best.

He would use that against her.

"Alright." He said. "This is a melee fight so I won't use my bow."

He took it and the quiver off his back and threw them all the way up to 3 and 4. He then unsheathed his staff and took a ready stance, his knees slightly bent and his staff parallel to the ground.

9 and 7 waited a second, then charged. 7 started with her jumping, over-hand slash. 9 dropped to a crouch and swung his staff a Daniel's feet.

Daniel jumped into the air to avoid 9's sweeping attack. 7 grinned as Daniel had put himself in the perfect position for her attack by avoiding 9's. Her grin was replaced by surprise as she saw Daniel looking straight at her and heading straight for her. She started swinging her blade down just as Daniel started swinging his blade at her. They met in midair and seemed to hang there for a second. Then as they began to descend Daniel jerked his blade down causing 7 to rotate off balance as her blade was jerked down with it.

Daniel landed evenly on his feet, facing them, ready for another attack. 7 landed awkwardly next to 9 and stumbled, her spear in one hand. They looked at each other and silently decided to stay close and on the ground.

They rushed again, 9 swinging his staff to Daniels' right side and 7 swinging to his left. Daniel blocked 9's attack and stepped back from 7's causing her to over-rotate. He then planted a foot on 9's chest and kicked, sending him sprawling backwards. He turned and thrust his staff upwards to intercept 7's incoming over-hand attack. He pushed up to throw 7 off balance and ducked 9's side-hand cut then pivoted and threw his leg out, catching 9 in his legs to send him into the dirt.

7 followed up with a stab to his back. Daniel sensed this and rotated away watching 7's spear dig into the dirt. He rotated behind her and was about to put his blade to the back of her neck, indicating her defeat.

Before he could do so, 7 jerked her spear butt back and nailed him square in the jaw, sending him reeling. She turned and delivered another over-hand to his head. He recovered quicker than she anticipated though and he dropped his staff, grabbed her spear, and, using the momentum of the attack, threw her over his shoulder and into a junk pile.

He heard a clattering noise behind him and turned to see 9 had kicked his staff a good 20 feet away. 9 then attacked with a series of short, controlled attacks that left Daniel with no time to think of anything but evasion.

Daniel cursed himself for letting go of his weapon as he evaded 9's attacks by mere centimeters. As he evaded he used his peripheral vision to scan the area quickly knowing that 7 would be up, un-dazed and ready to fight very soon. He saw his chance when he noticed a pebble near his staff.

He quickly rotated around and added an extra flourish to his evasions so his cloak would conceal the fact he was back pedaling furiously towards his staff.

When he felt that his staff was just behind his cloak he stopped back pedaling and waited for 9 to make the move he wanted him to make. 9 took a step with his right foot to give more power to his next swing. As he did so Daniel deftly kicked the pebble at his feet so in was under 9's foot. When 9 stepped on the pebble he lost his balance for half a second.

Quick as lightning, Daniel pivoted and picked up his staff. As he did so he kicked up and felt his foot connect with 9's light staff, sending it out of his grasp. Daniel spun around until he was behind 9 and brought his blade to the back of his neck.

9, knowing he was defeated, raised his hands and stepped away.

7 retrieved her spear and looked up into to see this last event un-fold. She ran at him, delivering a side-hand stroke as she did so.

Daniel heard her running up behind him and turned to sick his staff out to intercept her attack. It never came.

Just as he turned she stopped her attack and somersaulted over Daniel to land right behind him. She reversed her grip on her spear and swung it back to plant it on his back.

She had forgotten that Daniel's staff was double-bladed. He thrust behind himself so the blade rotated around him and intercepted her spear. They stood back-to-back like that for a second, then they both rotated to face each other.

7 immediately thrust again with her blade's sharp side to the right knowing Daniel would have to use his right foot to evade her attack.

She felt her blade hit nothing and started swinging to the right to catch Daniel's side. Before it moved 2 centimeters she felt it forcefully veer down and dig into the dirt. She looked up and was surprised to see Daniel standing on her spear blade.

As she had thrust Daniel saw the blade was on the left and quickly appraised her for knowing he would have to step to the left. He was not that easy though. He had jumped into the air to avoid her attack instead of side-stepping it. He then came down and landed on the blade forcing it into the ground.

Now 7 could not move her spear at all and he easily put his blade on the side of her neck.

She dropped her spear and held her hands up, knowing that she had been defeated fair and square.

Daniel stepped off her spear and she picked it up and went to 9, 3, and 4, who had gotten off the roof.

"Do you know why you two lost?' He asked.

"Because you're obviously a better warrior than me or 9." 7 said.

"No. It's because you attacked first." Daniel said.

"What does that have to with anything?" 9 asked.

"It's everything in a battle. If you attack first your opponent can see the attack, analyze it, and counter it effectively.

"But who could possibly do all that in that amount of time?" 7 retorted angrily.

"Me, first of all, and machines. Machines calculate things ten times faster than humans can. You two have gotten too used to fighting each other."

9 and 7 looked at each other guiltily, knowing he was right.

"Don't worry. I can spend time training you two so you can do what I just said."

"But what of 3 and 4' training?" 9 asked, not wanting Daniel to spend too much time with 7.

"They've gotten good enough to train on their own." He said. 3 and 4 looked at Daniel in surprise.

"You two still need to work on your skills, but I've taught you all I can for right now." He said looking at them.

"Well, that's enough for today. 9 can you come here for a minute? I want to show you something."

"O.K." 9 said, following him. "What do you want to show me?"

"It's a little something I thought might help us a bit. Ah, here it is." He said after walking for a while.

They had stopped in front of the skeleton of a vehicle, but 9s' attention was focused on what was on top it.

"I know what you're thinking." 9 said "And it's a great idea."

_A few days later:_

9 and 7 were resting after their training session with Daniel. He had called it a day for their training even though there was still an hour of daylight left. 7 had picked up on this fact and said.

"But we still have time for more training." 9 looked at her and had automatically assumed she wanted to spend more time with Daniel.

"There's something I want to do" Daniel had said and walked off into the emptiness. Normally 9 and 7 would have stopped him but they knew he could handle three spider-bots without breaking a sweat.

9 and 7 watched as it began to get dark. "They moon was already in the sky even though the sun was just setting. 9 looked over at her and decided it was time to confront her.

"7, there's something that I want to tell you."

"What is it 9?" 7 asked, looking at him.

"Well I just want to tell you this before it's too late." 9 said.

"Get on with it 9." 7 said, giving him a playful shove.

"7, I love you." 9 said

7 opened her eyes in shock then she leaned forward and hugged him.

"9, I love you too."

"Really!" he said in surprise.

"Yes, I do." She let go of him and looked at him questionably.

"What did you mean 'Before it's too late'?"

"Well I thought you were falling in love with Daniel. You always got a glint in your eyes every time you saw him fighting or when he was near you."

7 understood instantly and reassured 9.

"9, I was like that because I respect him. He's a warrior just like me and since his skill is greater than mine I am naturally drawn to him, but not like that." She explained.

"That make's a lot of sense" 9 said embarrassed.

7 smiled, then leaned over and kissed 9 straight on the lips. 9 was a little surprised by the action but recovered quickly and wrapped his arms around her.

As they were doing this 3 and 4 began to catalog the moment having snuck up on them using the skills Daniel had taught them. Daniel's hands then clamped over their eyes and he leaned down.

"Let them have their moment." He said, leading the two away.

As 9 sat there still in his embrace with 7 he knew that they would defeat the other fabrication machines with Daniel's help.

Authors' note: Surprise, surprise, 9 and 7 kissed. Who saw that coming (for those of you who didn't you need to work on your perceptive skills). To those I just mentioned at the top, please send more reviews. For those of you not mentioned, send reviews. I need them to make this story better for my readers. See ya'.


	4. Our little suprise

Authors' note: When we left off 9 and 7 had become open about their feelings and they kissed and 9 had the all important epiphany and blah, blah, blah. (If you don't know what epiphany means LOOK IT UP!) Sorry if the romance scenes from now on suck but I'm a guy and we're not good at that stuff. Now the story really ramps up as secrets are revealed and plans unfold.

A Little Surprise

Ever since 9 and 7 kissed they had started sleeping in the same bed, but every time 7 awoke 9 had already left the bed and off somewhere that neither 7, 3, or 4 could find. Daniel also disappeared during these times and they assumed that he was off with 9.

When she asked 9 he only said. "We're working on something. Daniel wants to keep it a secret."

"Fine." She sighed.

Daniel had been training them for over two weeks now and decided to start back up with 3 and 4 again.

"Keep up the hard work guys. See if you can develop some moves to beat me next time we spar." He said, smirking as he did so.

After spending only a day with 3 and 4 he saw that they were ready for the next level of training.

Sitting in a tower watching over the two groups train he was talking to himself.

"They're advancing far faster than I could have ever hoped for. What they've mastered in three weeks would have taken a regular person three months to become adequate in. Of course, they have something worth fighting for, something worth giving their own lives. If this keeps up we could've defeated the Fabrication Machines in a year. If only I knew where they are!"

Two days later Daniel decided to merge their training.

"You guys are advancing very fast." He told them. "It's time I started working on your awareness."

"Yeah, we do need to work on that." 9 said, remembering how the spider-bots had gotten the drop on them.

"The training begins now. Your first task is to walk into the emptiness, then turn back and walk to the library."

"That's it?" 7 asked suspiciously.

"No, it's not. When you turn back around I will begin to follow you. You will have to make it back to the library before I put four arrows into the ground at your feet. Each arrow signifies the death of one of you." He said.

"There's always a catch." 9 sighed.

"One arrow for a death?" 7 said. "But what about misses?"

"First: you all know me well enough to know that I won't miss. Second: You always assume the worst, that way you perform at your highest levels."

"Wasn't this about awareness though?" 9 asked.

"That's your second task. Every time you spot me I will move fifty feet away and will have to find you again." He said. "You guys ready?"

"Might as well be." 7 said.

They started off into the emptiness walking for a good hundred yards, which to them was a good half a mile. When they decided to turn around they grouped together and walked back-to-back keeping their heads on a swivel.

Daniel was already watching them and shook his head seeing many gaps in their defense, but he decided to wait and give them the chance to start letting their guard down.

When they reached the halfway point they did exactly as he expected. They stopped checking every little detail and was instead studying places where he could possibly hide, letting their attention focus there for a few seconds then moving on.

Daniel decided it was time to put them on alert again and quickly stepped out, fired, and drew back again.

They all jumped as an arrow landed directly at their feet. They all turned to where the arrow came from, but couldn't see any sign of Daniel. They looked sadly at each other thinking about what would've happened had this been a real situation. They continued on returning to focusing on the entire picture.

Daniel noticed that all four of them were still looking.

"One of you is dead; all four of you can't be looking." He shouted.

They all looked around in surprise trying to pinpoint his voice, but it bounced around the street and came from all directions.

"One of you must look straight ahead and not warn any of the others to anything you may see." He shouted again.

They all looked at each other. 3 decided to give up her life and looked straight ahead. They began walking again, looking for any sign of movement. Daniel decided to give them a ploy. He picked up a piece of broken brick and tossed out of his hiding place.

Three of them automatically focused on where the movement came from. Daniel stepped to the other side of his hiding place and fired two arrows in rapid succession. Again they all jumped seeing two arrows in the ground at their feet. They groaned in dismay, knowing another two had just died.

"Me and 4 will be the ones who died." 7 said.

"7" 9 began to say.

"No 9, I'm choosing to do this."

"But"

That's all 9 got out as another arrow landed at their feet. They all stared at it.

"You can't have emotional talks when being fully focused is the difference between life and death."

They all jumped again and turned to see Daniel standing right behind them.

"How did you" 9 began

"You weren't fully focused" Daniel said.

"Now let's head back home." He said, stepping forward and retrieving his arrows.

As they were walking back Daniel told them how to increase their awareness. Using their peripheral vision because it was more sensitive to movement. Not focusing on one spot but seeing all around the area of movement. Positioning in a slightly uncomfortable spot while keeping watch so you stay alert.

Over the next few days they did this exercise over and over again trying to make it back home. By the end of the fifth day they had been able to spot him three times now and two of them had made it home. When they finished this drill they moved onto another where they were posted as sentries trying to spot Daniel slipping into the library and calling him out. The first few days of this drill each one of them would jump in surprise as Daniel would appear right behind them. As they practiced more and more, they were able to notice brief flashes of movement, and finally they spotted him.

The morning after they spotted Daniel 7 got a surprise. She woke up and saw 9 sleeping there with her.

"9." She said shaking him.  
"9" She said again, shaking more forcefully.

"Yes 7?" 9 said groggily.

"You're here" She said lovingly.

"The project's done."

"Can I see it?" She asked, her curiosity at what kept him from her bed peaking.

He leaned forward and kissed her deeply.

"Not yet." He said with a sad smile.

They got up and walked outside holding hands. They found Daniel and instantly felt that something was wrong. While he was usually lively in the mornings, this morning he was stiff and quiet, standing in the window watching the horizon.

"What's wrong Daniel?" 7 asked.

"I feel…something." He said, turning slightly to the voice.

"Anyway you can be less vague?" 9 asked with a pruning voice.

"It's just…I have a sense of foreboding. Like something is going to happen that will completely throw us off guard."

"Don't worry." 7 said. "You've trained us very well. We can all handle ourselves."

"I guess your right." He said in an unconvinced voice, and then he returned to his usual manner. "Speaking of training, it's time you guys found 3 and 4 and headed out. You all still have to make it back alive."

9 and 7 groaned at this. They headed off to go get 3 and 4 and tell them that they were doing the drill.

'I don't care what 9 or 7 thinks.' Daniel thought to himself. 'Something very important is going to happen soon. I just don't know if it's good or bad.' On that note he headed out to the emptiness to find the four stichpunks.

He found them fifteen minutes later. All of them were moving very silently, keeping their optics moving, trying to detect the smallest amount of movement. He stayed out of sight, moving swiftly and silently waiting for them to make a mistake.

A small creak in a house across the street caught their attention. 9 was the only one who didn't turn his head to the noise on instinct. As Daniel pulled his bow to full draw, something caught his optics. He looked out past the town in to the land past its limits. Seeing nothing he looked slightly to the left of what had caught his attention. When he saw the movement again he was able to focus on it immediately.

9 was the first to see Daniel.

"I see you Daniel" He yelled up to him.

They all looked to see Daniel hadn't moved. 9 instantly felt the drill was over, and not because they passed.

"Get back to the library now." He said softly. Then he looked at them. "Machines are coming."

They all instantly took off to the library. Daniel was following close behind on the rooftops, watching how the machines were approaching the town. When they got back to the library Daniel had already made up a plan.

"There are 4 spider-bots and 2 other machines that I couldn't make out."

They all winced slightly, knowing that this lack of Intel could very well give the machines the advantage.

"You all know how to take down spider-bots, a shot in the middle of the eyes or just behind the head."

They all nodded.

"9, 7. You two fight alone. Draw a spider-bot out and take it down. 3, 4. You two fight together. One of you distracts while the other takes it out. Confront only one at a time.

They all nodded at this plan.

"What about the two unknowns?" 7 asked.

"I'll find out what I can about them and try to take them out. Everyone ready? Let's go!

The four went out into the town. Only Daniel stayed in the library. He headed up to the tallest point of the tower and began to try to find the two unknowns.

9 found a spider-bot easily. He quickly hid behind a chimney on the rooftop. He watched as it moved slowly down the street, looking for the stichpunks.

'Only make the first move if you're absolutely sure that it will be the last.' Daniel's voice sounded in his head. The only problem was that he wasn't absolutely sure. The spider-bot was moving methodically and was no doubt using all of its eight eyes to search. He sighed quietly, and then was struck with an idea. Taking a page out of Daniel's book, he picked up a piece of broken brick and tossed across the street into the broken window of another house. The spider-bot instantly focused all of its eyes on the noise.

9 jumped into the air towards the spider-bot. He had chosen his position carefully. He made sure that the sun was in front of him so when he jumped the spider-bot would not notice his shadow. He landed on its back and swiftly jabbed his blade down behind its head.

"See ya'" he said as it dropped dead.

7 dispatched her spider-bot even quicker than 9 did. All she had to do was show herself to it. It instantly charged her, opening its fangs a little wider. It lunged to her with its legs outstretched. 7 chuckled, then dropped to one knee and held her hand up. The spider-bot saw this and what she had been hiding. Her spear was angled at its eyes and it was braced against a deeply imbedded shard of metal. The blade was driven deep in the middle of its eyes and it dropped dead, falling to the side.

"Hmph." She grunted as she pulled her spear.

4 had her knives crossed, holding a slender blade back from striking her. As she stood with her spider-bot, 3 had snuck around and had jumped to land on its back. When she did the spider-bot began to turn, but 4 locked her hilt and prevented it from moving. It struggled as 3 took her blades and drove both behind its head. As she got of the dead machine 4 flashed her a message.

"Nice jump."

"Good hilt-lock." She replied

She never got an answer. 4 flipped her fighting knife in her hand and threw it just over 3's shoulder. 3 jumped out of the way and turned to see a dead spider-bot with a knife in its eyes.

"Nice shot." She flashed shakily.

"No problem. Now let's go find some more bots." 4 replied, grabbing her knife and running off.

Daniel saw all of this. Unfortunately, he saw what 9 and 7 didn't.

"9, 7, behind you!" he shouted

They both turned to see a four-legged machine jumping towards them with its jaws open. 7 rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being chomped on. 9 wasn't as fast. Just as it came down on him he threw his staff up and the machine bit down on it instead of 9. They began to wrestle for possession of the weapon.

Daniel had jumped onto a rooftop to get a better angle on the action. He saw 9 struggling for his weapon and 7 making unsuccessful attacks as she did not know where to hit to kill.

"Wolves." He said as he saw the distinct shape of the machines.

He looked around and made a choice. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He relaxed and felt the world around him melt. He began to feel the energies of the Earth and the elements flow around him. They were weak in this time of decay but he was still able to grab them.

When he opened his eyes the world around him was shown in a dim shadow. When he looked at the battles going on he could see 9 and 7 filled and surrounded by a flowing green aura. He was also able to see the inner-workings of the wolf-bots. He analyzed their structure and found a weakness. He came out of this vision-state and shouted.

"9, 7, strike behind the front legs!"

7 heard this. Using her warrior instinct, she rolled under the wolf-bot as it lunged and stabbed it behind the legs, killing it. 9 was caught off guard by this announcement though and had a momentary lapse of concentration. This was all his wolf-bot needed and it ripped his staff out of his hands and threw it away.

Daniel drew, nocked, and fired and arrow in the space of half a second. The arrow whizzed through the air and struck the wolf-bot right behind its leg. He came down and helped 9 off the ground.

"You all right." He asked.

"Yeah, a little shaken up, but fine." 9 said.

7, 3, and 4 came around the corner and saw Daniel helping 9 up, along with the arrow in a dead wolf-bot.

"What happened" 7 asked in a worried tone.

"I got in some trouble." 9 said, retrieving his light-staff. "Daniel was able to finish the machine off."

7 walked over to the wolf-bot as Daniel was retrieving his arrow.

"What type of animal is this?" She asked.

"Wolves" Daniel said. "They're the top predators of nature…as are spiders. Seems like our fabrication machine likes duplicating nature."

They all walked back to the library. When they got there they all walked up to the second floor. Daniel stood in the window again, staring into the sky. 7 walked over to him to ask what he was staring at. Suddenly, a screech broke the silence, making 9, 7, 3, and 4 jump.

"We got a hawk." Daniel said calmly, turning to face them. They all ran out to the ledge and looked up in time to see a flying figure passing overhead.

"Another top predator." Daniel said.

7 panicked. They weren't trained for air attacks. She looked over to Daniel and was surprised to see him smiling. She looked over to 9 and saw the same smile. What he hell were they smiling about?

"9, I think it's time to unleash our little surprise." Daniel said.

"So do I."

9 ran over to a gargoyle and pulled on one of its wings. As it came down a mechanical whirring came from the top of the library. They all looked up to see something coming out of the top. It rose vertically in the air, then it dropped to a horizontal position and locked into place. Only after this could 7 see what it really was, a fully loaded 50. caliber machine gun with a seat and controls behind it.

Daniel jumped up to the roof and into the gunner's seat. He grabbed the controls and deftly swung the gun around to face the oncoming hawk-bot. As it screeched he let loose a barrage of bullets. Each one hit and the hawk lost all lift and crashed onto the roof. As Daniel got out 7 ran up to 9 while 3 and 4 ran up to Daniel.

"Was this your secret project?" she squealed in delight.

"Yep." 9 said happily

"9, you're a genius!" She said, then began kissing him deeply.

Daniel, 3, and 4 left, deeply embarrassed.

Finally the two left and went inside. Only then did the red glow behind the hawk-bots' eyes fade.

Miles away something watched the recordings of the latest battle play. As it watched the exchange between the two annoying stichpunks it began making the weapons for its next attack. If it could chuckle it would for it knew that even if this next plan failed in one aspect, it would succeed in another.

Authors' note: Sorry for the cliff-hanger but it was the best place to leave off. For those of you wondering when the story is going to get to scenes that make this story M-rated, I've decided to give you a choice. Do you want an M-rated scene between 9 and 7, or… a deep secret from Daniels' past that still clings to him in the story. You have until September 25th to send in your votes before I begin typing up the next chapter. Choose well.


	5. The Next Level

Authors note: The votes are in and the polls are closed! With a win of 3-1 is the M-rated scene between 9 and 7! Thanks to all who reviewed and voted.  
Disclaimer" I own nothing. Shane Acker does.

**The Next Level**

The next week had been nothing but non-stop training. After seeing the new bots the Fabrication Machine had made and how fast it was able to make them, Daniel had insisted that more training was needed. All of them agreed. That didn't mean they had to like it though.

Daniel was pushing them harder than before. Making them run for half of the day, memorizing the town, training at night, and new, more advanced techniques of fighting, awareness, and stealth.

"SPRINT!" They heard Daniel yell.

All of them immediately began running as hard as they could through the obstacle course that he had developed for them.

Five seconds later a car detached itself from on top of a pile and began rolling towards them. 9 jumped up and somersaulted over the car. 7 jumped through an open window, landed on the armrest of a seat, then jumped out through the other window. 3 and 4 immediately slid under the car as it bounced. All of them did this at the same time and came out on the other side sprinting.

"ENOUGH!" They heard Daniel yell again.

They all stopped and put their hands on their knees, gasping for breath. Daniel landed beside them.

"That was good. You're all getting better." He said.

They all remembered the first time they did this drill, nearly being killed five times over and barely making it through half of the course.

"Jog back to the library and we'll begin sparring."

They all groaned in disappointment, than began jogging back to the library. They weren't surprised to see Daniel already there waiting for them. They had gotten used to the fact that he could seem to disappear and reappear at any moment.

"Today you're going to work on your reflex and reaction." He said after letting them rest. Again they all groaned. This was their least favorite drill.

They took up positions in a circle around Daniel. Each one of them stood stock still, focusing intently on him. 3 saw a flash of movement and silver. She immediately dodged to the left, just as one of Daniel's arrows flashed under her arm. Already Daniel was pivoting and firing arrows at all of them. Sometimes firing one and moving on, or firing three at one of them.

They all ducked, dodged and turned as arrow after arrow came after them. Ten seconds later it was over.

"Good job, not one of you got hit this time." Daniel said with a slight chuckle.

All of them looked around to see that none of them did get hit.

"I guess this training routine really is helping." 7 said with a smile.

"You guys are improving really fast. Next time we do this drill I'll take it up a notch."

7's smile immediately dropped. She suddenly remembered that Daniel was using only a fraction of his real ability.

"Training's over for today. Go get some rest." Daniel said.

"But there's still daylight left." 9 said. Even though they did not enjoy the training regimen, they all agreed that it was necessary.

"I know, but you guys have earned it." He replied. He then turned and walked off into the emptiness.

Normally everyone would nave been overjoyed at the fact of an early day, but this happened everyday.

"We need to find out where he goes." 7 said to 9.

"Yeah, and what it is that makes him cut training early." 9 replied.

7 nodded, then turned and walked with 9 into the library.

3 and 4 were having their own conversation.

_"What do you think it is that make him go off and cut training early?"_ 3 asked.

_"I think he goes for alone time."_ 4 flashed to her twin sister.  
_"What do you mean?"_

_ "Think about it. He was a human before all this." _4 said, gesturing out to the wreckage with her arm.

_"He had a life before all of this. He saw the war and probably lost a lot of friends and family to it."_

_ "Yeah. It must be hard on him. I can't imagine what that would feel like."_

_ "But don't we? We lost family to the Fabrication Machine." _4 said.

_"Yeah, but we still have 7 and 9. He lost everybody he knew."_

4 processed this. She realized that 3 was right. They still had 9 and 7. Daniel had nobody.

_"He must be strong." _3 said.

_"Yeah. To lose everyone and not just sink into depression, that's a different kind of strength. But he still has us."_

_ "Your right 4. He still has us. We can't let him down."_

_ "No."_

They both stared into the emptiness where Daniel had gone. Then, finally overcome with the exhaustion of all their training, headed back inside to their rooms. All four of them fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

9 woke up and saw 7 next to him. He smiled and kissed her on the forehead. She stirred a little, but stayed asleep. 9 carefully got up and went out of their room and into the library. One by one they all woke up and greeted each other. As they walked around the library they all felt something was off, but they couldn't grasp what it was.

They were all in the globe when it suddenly hit them. They weren't training.

For the past week Daniel had been waking them up at first light and putting them through rigorous training exercises. They all looked at each other in surprised, then jumped when they heard a gracious amount of laughter.

"You should have seen what you looked like!" Daniel laughed as they looked up and saw him in a second floor window. He was mimicking them walking then stopping in mid-stride with a look of astonishment on his face. He then fell to the ground rolling in laughter.

"What gives Daniel? Why aren't we training today?" 7 asked.

"Like I said yesterday, you guys deserve a break. For the next few days we're going to act as if the war doesn't exist and act like normal humans." He replied.

"Why?" 9 asked.

"One, we all need a break. And two, acting as if this war doesn't exist will give us a greater drive to win this war."

"That's fine by me!" 7 exclaimed. "Let's get rollin!"

By the end of the first hour none of them knew what to do. Their whole lives they had lived in war and they didn't know how to act normally. This was also added to the fact that there was virtually nothing to do. There were no games to play, music to dance to, or places to go. There really was nothing to do.

"Didn't think of this." Daniel muttered to himself, now realizing that there was nothing to do. "Time to improvise."

Thirty minutes later he found exactly what he needed and brought it back to the library.

"HEY GUYS!" Daniel yelled "I HAVE SOMETHING WE CAN DO!"

Immediately all four stichpunks ran outside, eager to see what Daniel came up with.

"How many of you have heard of soccer?" Daniel asked.

While 9 and 7 a shook their heads, 3 and 4 nodded vigorously.

"For 9 and 7, soccer is a game that you play with your feet. You dribble it around the field and try to get the ball into the other teams' net." Daniel said.

9 and 7 instantly became interested and listened as Daniel explained the rules and regulations of soccer. It was a full two hours before he got finished explaining the game to them.

"So, you guys feel like playing?" He asked after he finished setting up the goals and all the lines.

"Oh yeah." 7 said for them all.

"O.k., I'll be the referee. You guys will be playing a no-goalie game. 3 and 7, you're on one team. 4 and 9 are on the other. 4 and 9, you guys start with the ball. First team to 20 wins."

Daniel put the ball in the middle of the field.

"And…. GO!"

The game was on, and almost immediately there was a foul.

"7! Wait until they touch the ball! Redo." Daniel said as 7 had jumped the gun.

4 kicked the ball off to 9 and he took it up the field. 7 was instantly on him and proceeded to try and steal the ball from him. 9 passed the ball to 4, only to have it stolen by 3 and taken up the field. 4 recovered and chased her down.

"3! I'm open!" 7 yelled.

3 looked up and passed it to 7.

"Foul. Off-sides. Direct kick going left." Daniel said. He picked up the ball and placed where the foul occurred. 7 was about to argue, but stopped herself realizing she was off-sides and it would get her another foul.

4 backed up from the ball, then kicked it off to the corner of the field. 9 ran towards it and chested the ball to gain control of it, than took it up the end-line. 7 was right on him again. 9 lost his momentum and made a wild pass in front of the goal. Luckily 4 had sprinted up the field and was able to get a one-touch shot off and score.

"Goal. Left side. 1-0." Daniel said as he retrieved the ball and placed it at the middle of the field.

The rest of the game went on like this with neither team being able to get the advantage over the other and neither being able to score more than twice in a row. Eventually though, someone had to win.

"GAME!" Daniel yelled.  
"7 and 3 win with a score of 20-18!"

"Good game." 9 huffed to 7 as he walked off the field.

"Thanks 9." 7 replied.

9 thought he saw a gleam in her eye when she looked at him and guessed that it was her natural competiveness.

"So, how'd you guys like it?" Daniel asked.

"It's awesome." 7 said.

3 and 4 nodded rigorously showing their approval of the sport.

"How about you 9?"

"It's good."

That was all 9 could say before bent over to hold his knees trying to regain his breath. They all laughed at this and went back inside the house. 9, 3, and 4 noticed that Daniel once again went back into the emptiness, and again began to wonder where he went off to. 7 was too preoccupied on something else to notice.

When it was time to retire for the night they all went back to their rooms to sleep. 9 was about to go to sleep when he realized that 7 was sitting on the side of the bed.

"7?" 9 asked as he got up and sat down beside her. "What's wrong?"

"9, I want to take our relationship to the nest level." She said, not looking at him.

"Okay." 9 said, not knowing what she meant.

"No 9, I mean the _next _level." She said again, this time putting her hand on his leg and looking at him.  
"7, I don't know what you mea…" That was as for as 9 got. He suddenly realized what 7 meant when he registered the look in her optics and the fact that her hand was slowly moving up his leg.

"I-I…" 9 stammered before rushing out of the room in panic.

7 sat there for a minute in bewilderment, wondering what had caused his sudden departure. 9 walked quickly around the library with his mind racing at a million miles an hour.

"Does she really mean…? Can she really want to…? I don't even know…."

9 kept stammering to himself as he speed walked through the library. After about five minutes of doing this endless stammering he saw Daniel sitting in a second story window.

_'He'll know what to do.'_ 9 thought to himself as he made his way up to the window.

"Daniel."

"Yeah 9" Daniel said looking away from the sight outside.

"Um, I have a situation."

"And…?" Daniel prompted him.

"Well, 7 wants to take our relationship to the nest level."

"Oh, that's good. What the problem?" Daniel asked, looking back out to the emptiness.

"No, I mean the _next _level." 9 said, realizing he was mirroring what 7 had done just a couple minutes before.

Daniel looked at him again hearing the emphasis on the word "next". He saw the seriousness in 9's optics. 9 looked back at him. They stayed like this for a full two minutes, 9 getting more and more nervous. Suddenly Daniel broke out laughing, harder than he had in the morning.

"Daniel." 9 said trying to get his attention, but Daniel was laughing too hard to hear him. After five minutes of rolling around on his back Daniel regained some of his composure and sat back up.

"So…?" Daniel prompted again.

"What do I do?" 9 nearly shouted at him.

Daniel nearly broke out in a fit of laughter again but was able to restrain himself.

"9, no offense to your relationship, but if someone like 7 asked me to have sex with them, which I'm presuming is what she has in mind?"

"Yeah"

"You'd better believe I'd jump at the chance in a heartbeat." Daniel said.

9 looked down slightly crestfallen.  
"Hey, that's my feelings. You have your own and that's your business, not mine. Hard as it is to believe, I don't have the answer to everything." Daniel joked, knowing that humor would pick 9 up.

9 chuckled a bit and said.

"You're right, I just panicked."

"It's alright, most people in your situation might."

"But I thought you said all males want to have sex?" 9 asked.

"First of all, I never said that, I only said I would. Second of all, most guys would. Third of all, you're in a post-apocalyptic world and the thought of sex has never crossed your mind before, nobody has ever been in your position before." Daniel said smugly.

"Riiiiiight." 9 said realizing his mistake.

"Now go get some sleep." Daniel told him.

"That's going to be hard with 7 the way she is." 9 said as he walked away.

"Right." Daniel said, forgetting the predicament 9 was in for a moment.

"Any suggestions on that?" 9 asked hopefully.

"Hey." Daniel said standing up. "That's your problem, not mine". And with that he jumped backward, out of the window.

"But…?" 9 started as he rushed to the window. But when he looked out Daniel had disappeared.

"How does he do that?" 9 asked himself, then he sighed, realizing the task he had ahead of him as he began to walk back to his room.

7 was lying on the bed waiting for him to return. When she heard him opening the door she quickly positioned herself into a more sexy position.

"Well, have you made your decision?" she asked seductively.

9 took one look at her and heard the tone in her voice and was already struggling to control himself. He walked over to the bed and laid down under the covers not facing her.

"Well?" 7 asked again in the same seductive tone, placing a hand on his upper-thigh.

"I don't want to 7." 9 said quickly as he forced himself to sleep.

7 was about to try again but she noticed he had forced himself to go to sleep. She had noticed how 9 had looked at her though and she knew that he was struggling.

"I will get what I want 9." She said as she settled herself down to sleep.

She woke early the next morning so she could position herself with 9 so that when saw he was already gone. She growled to herself and got up to begin her seduction. It was nearing midday and she still had not found 9. She had even asked 3 and 4 but had not seen him all day.

"Curse Daniel hand training." She said. 9 was probably using those skills to hide from her. Then she had an idea. She raced off to find Daniel. He knew every trick in the book. He should be able to find him, if he didn't know already.

She finally found him and raced up to him.

"Daniel, do you know where 9 is?"

"No, why do you want to know?" he asked her, already knowing the answer. She had known he would ask this but wasn't prepared for it.

"Well I, uh, I wanted him to teach me a few soccer tricks."

"But didn't you win yesterday?"

Well, yeah, but…" She looked up at him and knew she was losing this battle horribly.

"Alright. I wanted to have sex with 9 last night but he ran off and when he came back he said he didn't want to and went to sleep." She said looking away embarrassed.

"Don't worry, I already know." Daniel said with a chuckle.

"You do?" 7 said, looking up in shock.

"Yeah, where do you think 9 ran of to last night?"

"That little…" 7 began angrily.

"7 don't worry about it, I agree with you."

"About what?" she asked angrily.

"About you and 9 having sex."

"Oh." She said lamely.

"And I have just the plan to do it."

An hour later Daniel yelled out to everybody.

"C'MON EVERYBODY. LET'S PLAY SOME SOCCER!"

9 looked over in that direction and decided to go play thinking Daniel was on his side.

"No doubt she'll try some more, but I might as well. She might even forget about it while we're playing." 9 said hopefully to himself. When he arrived at the field he saw everyone was already there.

"Hey 9." Daniel said. "Now stretch out everyone, we don't want any injuries."

They all started stretching. 9 couldn't help but look over a 7. She had positioned herself so when she stretched she showed off her curves graciously. 9 groaned as he looked away trying to control his mechanical hormones.

"Okay everybody, I'm going to show you how to stretch out your calves." Daniel said. They all watched as he positioned him self with his hands and feet on the ground and his body forming a triangle with the ground. He then put one of his feet on top of the other which forced his foot to flatten on the ground. After twenty seconds he switched his feet. They all copied this. This time when 9 looked up he saw that 7 was in front of him. This provided him with an unblocked view of her ass. He stared for a few seconds and was tempted to get up and grab it. He then shook his head and groaned again as he struggled with his body.

"Alright everybody, teams are the same as yesterday. 4 and 9 you start off with the ball." Daniel said. And so the game began. 7 had put herself where she would face-off with 9 and continually brushed up against him whenever she could. 9 was slowly losing the battle with his body, but he was still able to resist. 7 looked imploringly at Daniel.

He had to admit 9 had a strong will, but he still had a trump card.

"Give him a break-away." He mouthed at her. She nodded. A minute later 9 got the break-away. 7 chased closely behind him. Daniel waited to see where 9 was going and kicked a pebble at his feet to intercept 9. 9 was too focused on the break-away to notice this, but 7 did and she instantly knew what Daniel had in mind. When 9 stumbled on the pebble 7 ran right into him from behind. They both fell onto the ground and rolled with each other.

9 felt he was on the ground with something on top of him. He opened his eyes to find 7 was on top him. She had her hands on his chest and was straddling his hips. In that moment he lost control of his body and felt a pressure in between his legs. 7 felt the growing pressure to and looked down at the spot where the pressure was.

She looked back at him and smiled.

"Stop play." Daniel said rushing over as if to check for injuries. He looked at 7 and she gave him a quick nod. 9 saw this and gave Daniel a look that clearly said "traitor". Daniel responded with a look that said "All's fair in love and war." He then got up and said

"Game's over today. No winners." He snuck a smug look back at 9 and 7 then walked into the library. 9 looked over and saw 3 and 4 flashing at each other as they walked back to the library, no doubt arguing who really won.

He tried to get up but found that 7 was still on top of him.

"7." He said, trying to keep his voice calm and level. "Can you please get off me?"

"As long as I can get back on later" 7 replied in a sly voice with a wink.

"7 please get off."

"Alright"

As soon as she got off him he jumped up and began to run into the emptiness. She was about to chase after him when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Let him go."

She turned around to see Daniel there.

"Why? Now we're back to the beginning." She said to him angrily.

"No we're not. The only thing holding him back last time was that he believed he didn't want to. Now after your moment he realizes that he does. If you run after him and try to force him, he'll go back to believing he doesn't want to."

"Hmph!" With that she turned around and walked back to the library. She knew he was right, again. She still didn't have to like it.

"She can be so temperamental." He said to himself. "Glad I'm not the one dating her." With that he onto the field and tried beat his juggling record.

7 was in their room when she heard 9 enter back into the library. She jumped up quietly and snuck out the door and found a hiding place nearby. Soon after she saw 9 walking towards their room. She quietly snuck up behind him. He opened the door and whispered "7?"

She put her hand over his mouth and whispered into his ear.

"Took you long enough, but I guess that everybody is asleep now." She led him into room and shut the door with her foot. After that she finally released him.

"So I guess you've made up your mind."

"Yeah, I want to do it,"

"It's about time."

"So…how do we start?"

"Well let's start with this" 7 moved forward and kissed him. After a moment of surprise 9 starting kissing back. 7 then ran her leather tongue against his lips, asking for entry. 9 obliged and opened his mouth. 7 felt instantly aroused as their tongues battled for dominance. She started walking him backwards until the back of his legs hit the bed. She instantly pushed him onto the bed and came down with him so their mouths would stay in contact. They kissed like that for a full minute before 9 tried to roll over and gain the dominant spot.

"Oh no you don't" 7 said sitting up. This prevented him from rolling her over while satisfying the need for air that had been growing. 9 noticed she was in the same position they had been on the soccer field. Instantly he felt the pressure again. 7 felt it too and smiled.

"Ready so soon?'

9 nodded.

7 then slid her hand up his chest and grabbed onto his zipper. She slowly began to pull it down revealing the inner mechanics of the stichpunk. Finally she got it down to his waist and she saw a cylindrical object. She reached down, grabbed it, and pulled it out.

9 gasped as soon as she touched. He had never been touched there before and the result was a feeling of immense pleasure. She let go and studied it for a few seconds. It wasn't made out of copper as she expected. Instead it was made out of a rubber that hardened when it received the right stimuli.

She then forgot about studying it and wrapped her fingers around it and started moving her hand up and down its length. 9 gasped again feeling a huge amount of ecstasy run throughout his body. Suddenly 7 dropped her head down and kissed the top of it. She looked up to see if the action had any effect. She wasn't disappointed as she saw 9 close his optics and moan in pleasure. She then wraps her lips around his dick and began to bob her head up and down on it.

9 groaned in pleasure, put his hands on the back of her head, and began to buck his hips. 7 became more aroused as he did this and began applying a small amount of suction while circling her tongue around his dick. 9 started to buck faster and soon he felt a sensation in his abdomen that felt like a spring coiling. 7 could feel this too and released his dick and sat up straight knowing what was about to happen.

"7, why'd you stop?' 9 said in between gasps.

"Because I didn't want you to release yet." She said

She then lifted herself up onto her knees and grabbed his dick. Slowly she lowered herself until she felt its head at her entrance. She looked at 9 once and saw the lust in his eyes. That was all she needed and she dropped herself on his dick. Both of them immediately felt immense pleasure. 7 threw her head back and moaned loudly. 9, being somewhat accustomed to the feelings was able to control himself more. Soon the feeling passed and she started to move up and down on his dick. They both felt immense pleasure as 9 started bucking his hips in time with 7's. 9 started breathing heavily and 7 started moaning louder and louder.

9 became more aroused at the sound of her moaning and soon felt the tightening in his stomach. 7 felt a similar feeling in her own abdomen.

"Oh, ohhh, ohhhhhh, 9 I'm about to CUUUUMMMMM!" 7 yelled as she felt a fluid release from the fabric in her cunt and spill out onto 9's dick and groin. 9 feeling this released with a loud groan. 7 felt a surge of electricity come out of 9's dick and travel up throughout her entire body causing her to cum again.

After they both rode through the waves of their orgasms 7 collapsed onto the bed next to 9. They both lay there panting until 9 found the concentration to say something.

"That was amazing." He said.

"I told you."

They then both kissed each other and fell asleep from exhaustion.

In another room Daniel turned away from the book he was reading and cocked an ear. "Finally they stopped. I can't sleep with all that moaning and bumping."

Authors note: Wow that was a long chapter. Thanks to all those who stayed with the story until the very end. I didn't mean for it to be this long but I wanted to put some mystery into the story on where Daniel goes and how hard it must be for him in this world. For those who wondered why this story took so long, it was because I'm writing another story! This one is a Jason Bourne parody and is rated M also. It will be coming soon probably tomorrow (October 5, 2010) look for it and review. Also look for the next chapter for this story; it's quite the nail-biter…and quite revealing. See ya!


	6. Duplicates

Authors note: C'mon people, start reviewing! The last chapter got the least reviews…and it was the one that you guys wanted! Now that I got that Out of my system, prepare for the most mind-blowing chapter in the Just the Beginning series.

Disclaimer: I do not own 9.

**Duplicates**

7 was the first to wake up the next morning. At first she wondered why she was so sore; then she remembered the events of last night and smiled to herself. She looked over and saw 9. He was still asleep.

She decided to let him sleep a bit longer as a reward for last night. She carefully got out of bed and made her way to the door. She tried to leave quietly but the door creaked rather loudly and 9 woke up.

"Hey 7." He said, looking over at her.

"Hey 9." She said, leaning against the door. 9 got up and walked over to her.

"How'd you like last night?" He asked as he grabbed hold of her waist.

"It was very enjoyable."

And with that she leaned in kissed 9. He was ready for it and deepened the kiss immediately, wrapping his arms completely around her. He wanted the moment to last forever but he had to come up for air.

"Lets go downstairs." He said as he grabbed her arm and led her down the stairs. They both stopped in surprise when they saw that everyone was already awake.

"Havin' a good morning?" Daniel asked. Immediately 3 and 4 covered their mouths to hide their smiles. 7 and 9 both looked up to see that where they had been kissing was in plain view.

"Next time, try to find a more secretive spot." Daniel said with a small snicker. "So, how did everyone sleep?" 3 and 4 both began flashing and nodding their heads.

"We slept pretty well." 7 said for the both of them.

"Well I couldn't." Daniel said. "There was this weird bumping and moaning coming from the wall." 7 and 9 tried their best to hide the horror they were feeling right then. "Must have been the wind." Daniel said in a mock-convincing voice. "3, 4. Could you run outside real quick and check to see if there is anything that could be hitting the house?" They both nodded their heads and ran outside.  
"You heard us?" 7 asked.

"Who couldn't?" Daniel said. "You guys are lucky that 3 and 4 are deep sleepers or you would have scared them off." 9 and 7 looked down in shame.

"Look guys. When I said to find a secretive spot earlier, I meant for ALL of your 'moments'."

"Right." 9 said. 3 and 4 ran inside and shook their heads to say that they didn't find anything that could've been causing the bumping.

"Thanks guys." Daniel said to the pair. "Now who's ready to play some more soccer?"

"Let's go!" 7 said, thankful for anything to take her mind off of the previous discussion. When they got outside, Daniel made a surprising announcement.

"Alright guys, this time I want to play." They all took a little gasp. They had all been wondering how good of a soccer player Daniel was.

"9, do you mind being the referee?"

"Nah, I need a break," 9 said. They all laughed, knowing soccer wore 9 out more than any of them.

"4, you'll be on my team." Daniel said. 3 nodded and joined Daniel on one side of the field.

9 placed the ball in the center of the field and started the game. It was quickly apparent that he was a great soccer player. 4 had passed the ball off to 7 and she took it up the field. When Daniel came up to defend her she tried pulling a move she taught herself. She started moving her feet around the ball without touching it. She created this to confuse her opponent as to which leg she was going to use to dribble the ball. When she made her move the ball wasn't there.

Daniel had taken the ball from her and was running up the field. She quickly recovered and ran after him. When she got to him she saw that 4 was well covered by 3. She smiled as she came up beside him and thrust her leg to the right to knock the ball from his possession. Again she was surprised as her foot hit nothing but air. Daniel had gained 5 feet from her and as she took off after him again he shot and scored a goal.

9 had seen the whole event take place. He had not seen how Daniel had stolen the ball from 7, but he did wee how he avoided her. He had gotten his foot under the ball and lifted it into the air and jumped over 7's leg, all the while keeping complete control of the ball. The game was over in thirty minutes with the score being 11-20, 4 and Daniel winning.

"Where did you learn those moves?" 7 huffed. During the game Daniel had chested, headed, passed, stole, and shot the ball with expert precision.

"Before I became the scientists' apprentice I was on my school's Varsity Soccer team."

"You're the best player I've ever seen." 9 said. 7, 3, and 4 all nodded in agreement.

"I wasn't." Daniel said sadly. "I had a friend named Jacob Darling. His skills greatly surpassed my own. He probably would have been the best soccer player ever…if the war didn't happen." Daniel went silent for a minute. 3, 4, 7, and 9 all felt that he needed a moment.

"That's in the past though." Daniel said, apparently throwing off his sadness. "I guess I'm the best soccer player in the world now." He said in a mock-boasting voice. They all saw that it was an attempt to throw of the sadness and played along.

"Hey guys." Daniel said. "Let's look around and see if we can find anything else to do."

"Yeah." I want to see if there's anymore tinkering materials around." 9 said, clearly getting excited over his favorite pass-time.

"Let's go then." 7 said. With that they all headed out into the emptiness to gather materials for 9 to try and invent something with. As usual they all gathered their weapons I case of attack. It reminded them all that, even though they were having fun, the war was still out there.

An hour later Daniel was walking on the crest of a roof top when he heard two heavy thumps behind him. He turned on the spot, slinging his bow from his shoulder, nocking and arrow, and pulling it to full draw. He relaxed when he saw it was just 3 and 4.

"Don't do that guys." He said, putting the arrow back in his quiver and slinging his bow over his shoulder once more. "I nearly put an arrow into your heads. So did you find anything?" He asked turning around. Immediately he felt something was wrong. He whipped around in time to find that both of them were running to him at full speed…both of their knives in hand.

"What are you doing?" He yelled. As they reached him they both began swinging and thrusting their knives at him. Daniel expertly blocked and avoided their attacks but he was off-guard and couldn't keep it up for long.

9 was in on the in an ally-way. He and 7 had split off into two ally-ways on different sides of a building that were filled with junk. As 9 was rummaging he heard something behind him. He turned around to see 7 there.

"Hey 7. Did you find anything?" 9 said. He knew something was wrong when 7 did not answer. Instead she drew her spear and rushed at him. 9 only had enough time to draw his light-staff before she was on him. She began attacking him with short, swift attacks.

"7!" 9 yelled "Stop!" All she did was attack even faster than before. He kept blocking her attacks but not attacking in return. He didn't want to hurt her. But playing the off-guard defense he was wasn't enough, and he knew it.

7 was in the opposite ally-way when she heard footsteps. She turned around and saw 9 there.

"Hey there." She said, moving closer to him. "I guess this spot is pretty private." Only her lightning fast warrior instincts saved her. She jumped back as 9's light-staff swung at neck level. "What the hell are you doing?" She yelled at him. Already he was running at her and she drew her spear in time to intercept his side-hand. He kept attacking and she kept defending, but she was losing. On her next block she thrust her spear upward and ran out of the ally-way. She was confronted with an enormous wall of junk on her left. She turned around to intercept an over-hand by 9 and again she was playing defense.

9 grabbed his staff with both hands and shoved it at 7. She fell backwards and he took that chance to run out of the ally-way. When he got out he was confronted with a wall of junk to his right. He turned around and blocked 7's jumping over-hand cut and he began blocking her relentless attacks again.

3 thrust with her left hand and 4 with her right hand. Daniel grabbed both of their wrists and stopped their thrusts at his chest. 3 and 4 were already swinging with their other knives at opposite sides of his throat. Daniel threw his elbows up and caught their attacks. He then let go of their wrists and put his hands flat on their chests. He stepped into them and shoved as hard as he could, sending both of them flying.

He took the break to look around and gain a bearing. When he looked to his left he saw a very confusing sight. He saw 7 and 9 standing on either side of a huge wall of junk fighting…9 and 7? He looked back at 3 and 4 with a creeping suspicion. He closed his eyes and once again felt the energies of the world moving around him. When he opened his eyes he saw the world as if in shadow and the inner-workings of 3 and 4. Usually he would have seen a flowing green aura around them, signifying the presence of soul. What he saw was a dull red aura around them.

"Artificial soul." He gasped as he returned to his normal vision. He looked over at where 7 and 9 were and un-slung his bow. In the space of a second he fired two arrows. They hit the wall of junk and it started topple.

The four fighting stichpunks looked up at the wall and saw pieces falling down at them. They all ran to the side to get away from the avalanche of junk. 9 looked up when the avalanche was over and was confused to see 7 on the other side. 7 looked up and was confused to see 9 on the other side.

"9, 7! THEY'RE DUPLICATES!" They both looked up to see Daniel on a rooftop.

"THEY'RE DUPLICATES!" He yelled again. They both looked at their opponents in understanding. They got up and held their weapons in attack stance.

The duplicates got up and readied to attack again. They both hesitated when they saw the change in their target's attitude. Their artificial soul told them that they had somehow lost their advantage and to wait. Then their machine won and they began to attack again. This time 9 and 7 attacked them and the duplicates became uncertain. Their programming told them that their targets would not fight back. Now they were off-guard and they were losing.

Daniel turned around after his second shout and prepared to shoot the duplicate 3 and 4 with a steely determination. They had gotten up though and had rushed at him while he was turned. When he was about to release the arrow the duplicate 4 knocked the bow out of his hands. With lightning fast reflexes Daniel recovered and drew his staff. He saw the duplicate 3 lunging after him. Instead of blocking the attack he lowered his shoulder and let the duplicate's momentum carry the attack over his body. He then shot up and flipped the duplicate over his shoulder.

He bull-rushed the other duplicate, catching it off-guard. With his staff held horizontally out in front of him, he pushed it straight into the chimney. The duplicate took a swipe at him but he jumped back and avoided the knife. Just as fast he lunged forward and thrust his staff into the duplicate's abdomen. He heard it give a cry of pain as it reached down and grabbed the staff. He looked at the duplicate but saw that it was smiling. He looked into its optics and saw a reflection of the other duplicate running up behind him and jumping.

Daniel turned to pull his staff out and kill the other duplicate but he couldn't move it. He looked back and saw the duplicate had a firm hold on his staff, preventing him from pulling out to attack and leaving wide open for its twin to kill him.

The duplicate looked at Daniel with a smile expecting him to have a look of utter fear and defeat on his face. This time it was its turn to see a smile on Daniel's face. Daniel moved his hand to the center of his staff. A small click was heard and then everything seemed to move in slow motion.

Daniel turned and the other half of his staff with went him. His staff had separated at the middle and he was now swinging it around to the unprepared 3 duplicate. As he turned he reversed his grip and swung the blade at the duplicate's neck. A small shearing sound was heard and the duplicate hit the rooftop, its head rolling down the slope.

The 4 duplicate, still pinned to the chimney, watched as Daniel jumped back and landed ten feet away. It was confused as to why he hadn't killed it, and then it saw him turn back at it with his bow in hand. It struggled as Daniel deliberately drew an arrow and slowly pulled back to full draw.

"Good bye." Daniel said with contempt as he released the bowstring. The arrow traveled fast and straight, puncturing easily through the optics of the duplicate and killing it instantly.

Daniel looked down at the two dead duplicates. Looking at them he wondered why he felt sadness instead of contempt. He stood there looking at them for a few seconds, and then gasped as he realized the true plan behind the duplicates. Once again time seemed to move in slow motion as he looked over at 7 and 9. He saw that they had disarmed their opponents and were about to deliver a killing blow.

"7, 9! STOP!" Daniel yelled to them.

It was too late they had already started swinging and at the same time, decapitated the two duplicates. They both looked up at Daniel in confusion, wondering why he would not want the duplicates dead. When they looked back at the dead duplicates they did not see defeated machines. Instead what they saw was their lover, lying dead in the dirt.

Authors note: We finally see how cunning the new Fabrication Machine is. This idea popped into my head when I wrote the second chapter. That was when Daniel explained how the new Fabrication Machines would be more difficult to beat because of the Chancellor's military knowledge and ruthlessness. Be ready. The next chapter will be revealing as Daniel's past finally becomes known. Please review!


	7. The Past Revealed

Authors note: This was originally supposed to be in "Duplicates" but I thought that it would make the chapter way too long. Because of that I'm writing this just after I finished "Duplicates" so I have not see the reviews yet, I hope they're good. Oh yeah, please review after reading.

Disclaimer: I do not own 9.

**The Past Revealed**

Daniel saw them look down at the dead duplicates and watched in horror as he saw the realization hit them. He slid down from the rooftop and walked up to them. He grabbed 9's shoulder and walked him over to 7. He also grabbed her shoulder.

"They're just machines." He whispered to them. "This isn't real."

9 and 7 kept the same look on their faces. Daniel heard two sets of running foot steps behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see 3 and 4 running over to them after hearing the shouting and the avalanche of junk.

"3, 4. Come here." They both rushed over to him. "Take these two up to the library and sit them down, Comfort them as best you can."

They both nodded to him and wrapped 9 and 7's arms around their shoulders. Daniel watched as they led them back to the library. After he was sure that they out of eye and ear shot he looked back to the bodies of the duplicates.

"I swear; I will destroy you." He said quietly to himself. He then walked up the duplicate of 7 and began cutting the leather material open. After he had stripped the cloth away he disassembled the mechanical skeleton and put them into a pile. He repeated this with the other three duplicates and put the parts into according piles. He then constructed a makeshift sled out of plywood and spare wheels and put the piles on the sled and began rolling the parts back to the library.

"This may be disgusting." He grunted "but they'll come in handy if any of us get badly injured."

It took him a whole hour to return to the library. He stashed the cart in a separate building that they had searched before so the others would not find it.

After making sure that the cart was adequately hidden he went inside the library. He wasn't surprised to find 9 and 7 still in the same condition they were in when he last saw them.

3 and 4 looked at him with a worried look in their eyes. The question was clear. _What happened to them?_

"Nothing you need to know about." Daniel said with a wave of his hand.

"9? 7?" Daniel asked quietly. They didn't respond.

"9. 7." He said with more force. Still they didn't respond.

9! 7!" Daniel yelled. This finally got a response from them as they looked up at him.

"Listen. What you saw out there was proof of how cunning and ruthless these new Fabrication Machines are. I will never allow what you saw out there happen. I will protect you guys with my life."

"Please don't." 9 said in a small voice. "I don't think we could handle it."

7 nodded in agreement.

With that they both got up and went to their room. 3 and 4 started after them but Daniel held them back.

"They need some alone time." He said to them.

They looked up at him with more worried expressions. _"What did they see?"_ The looks seem to ask.

"Something horrible." Daniel said. "Have one of you documented a good movie yet?"

_"You think he's seen Jackass 3 yet?" _4 asked 3.

_"I don't think so." _3 answered.

4 looked up to Daniel, nodded, and then led him off to the globe so they could watch the comedy.

**Three days later:**

Daniel, 3 and 4 were passing the soccer ball to one another while trying to keep it in the air when 9 and 7 stepped outside. This was the first time since the battle.

"You guys alright?" Daniel asked after catching the ball.

"Yeah." 9 said. "We just needed some alone time with each other."

Daniel's teenage mind immediately went to the gutter with that answer but he quickly dropped the idea. After all he hadn't heard any of their usual signs.

"I'll say so. You were in there for 3 days."

"Like 9 said, we needed some alone time."

"Alright then. You guys need a distraction so let's play some soccer." He said excitedly. "I'll be the ref."

Once the game started 9 and 7 were back to their normal selves, laughing and having a fun time. 4 hours later the game ended with 9 and 3 winning 20-19.

"Good to see you guys back to your old selves." Daniel said.

"Yeah." 9 huffed. Once again that was all he could say before he put his hands back on his knees and began gasping for air. They all laughed at seeing 9 in this state.

"It's getting late guys. We better retire for today." Daniel said.

They all started heading for the library, except for Daniel. They all noticed that he, once again, was heading off into the emptiness.

They pretended not to notice but all of them were watching exactly the direction he was heading in.

"Does anyone remember which direction he headed in?" 7 asked.

All of them nodded.

"Okay, tomorrow we follow him to where ever he's going and figure out what he's hiding from us."

Again they all nodded.

"Everyone needs to act normally or he'll know that something is up." 9 said

**The next night:**

"Good game guys." Daniel said. He had played once again, only this time 9 was playing.

"You guys are really improving."

"Thanks." 9 said, this time not clutching his knees.

"Good to see your endurance is getting better." 7 said as she walked up to him.

"Yeah. These soccer games are really helping."

"Sun's getting low guys, time to get inside." They all started walking towards the library.

They watched carefully as Daniel went into the emptiness. Once he was out of view they instantly turned around and went after him. They followed him by rooftop.

_"Daniel's mind must really be on something._ _Usually he would've caught us by now."_ 9 thought, remembering the small mistakes they had made. Like a small _thud_ when they went to another rooftop, or the occasional slip that came from running on loose, angled roof tiles.

After tailing him for ten minutes they saw him disappear into a building. They waited a minute, then came down in front of the door.

"You guys ready?" 9 whispered.

All of them nodded expectantly.

They all went into the door and found themselves in a room that had about five different ways to go.

"Damn." 7 whispered. "Okay, we'll have to split up and search fo…"

She stopped in mid-sentence when they all heard something.

"Music?" 9 said.

They all began listening to it and decided that it came from below them, in the basement.

"Down the stairs." 9 whispered. "Be careful, some of them will defiantly creak if we put enough pressure on them."

They all walked to the half-open door and began descending the stairs behind it. As they descended the music got louder, confirming that it was coming from the basement.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs they all turned to the right and stopped dead. They all saw Daniel sitting there, looking up at a picture of a blonde girl with an iPod nano playing the music.

They all started to move closer to Daniel. As they moved closer 4 stepped on a piece of scrap metal. This caused it to lift up and hit another piece of metal and create a loud crash.

They all froze as Daniel looked behind him and expected him to get angry at them and storm off. Instead he just acknowledged them and looked back to the picture. Taking this as a sign that they were in no trouble they moved up beside him.

They sat there for a minute until 7 decided to speak up.

"What song is this?"

"Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) by Journey." Daniel said not looking away.

They all lapsed into silence again until the song ended. The iPod turned on again to show the next song.

"Dust in the Wind by Kansas." Daniel said.

They listened to the song for a minute until 9 decided to ask the question they all had.

"Who is she?"

"Her name was Rachael. She was kind-of my girlfriend."

"Kind-of?"

"We never really dated, but we both had feelings for each other that we never acted on."

"Why didn't you?" 7 asked.

Daniel sighed.  
"I was afraid." He answered. "Afraid of the rejection. Afraid she didn't feel the same way."

"I was about to ask her but I the scientist asked me to be his apprentice and I missed the chance."

"Someone else asked her?" 7 asked again.  
"No. When I mustered up enough courage to ask, then missed the chance I had, it just drove me back to being afraid."

"Did you ask her again?" 9 said.

"I was about to but the war started and…" Daniel then choked up.

"Daniel, what happened?" 7 asked

"And her family got relocated!" Daniel cried, putting his hands to his face. They could tell that if he were still human he would be crying.

"As soon as the war started her family was moved to a military base so they could be safe!" He cried with his face still in his hands. "The bases were the first to fall under attack and they were completely destroyed!"

They all gasped, imagining the pain Daniel must have experienced when this happened.

9 felt that something else was causing Daniel to act this way though.

"Daniel. What did you do?" he asked.

Daniel stayed the way he was and it seemed like he hadn't heard 9's question. Then he drew a shuddering breath and took his face out of his hands.

"When I learned that the bases were being attacked was when I also learned of the other Fabrication Machines. I had a choice. Try to save the future of humanity or try to save my future."

"I chose to save my future and created replicas of the talisman."

All four of them looked at him in surprise.

"They weren't perfect copies though. They would only work one time and that was it. I created three of them and sent one of them to Rachael and the other two to my best friends with instructions on how to use them and create their own stichpunks."

"In the time it took me to do this I could've warned the scientist and might've saved you the trouble of having to face three more. I learned that my effort had been in vain though."

"I heard that the base she had been staying at had been overwhelmed and completely burned to the ground."

Daniel grew silent after his recount and began listening to the music once more. The song had changed. It was Cryin by Aerosmith.

All of them looked at Daniel. Naturally they should've been angry at him for making the selfish decision and putting them in this mess, but they didn't. 9 and 7 understood his decision knowing they would've done the same thing if put into that situation. 3 and 4 understood the amount of pain he was going through and knew that this pain was tearing him apart inside.

They all sat there listening to the iPod for what seemed like and hour. Finally Daniel got up and turned the iPod off.

"Let's go." He said.

"Are you sure you're all right?" 7 asked him.

"Yeah. You have to face the past to be able to move on. I just wasn't ready to let go."

With that he turned and started walking towards the staircase. He waited at the bottom of the stairs and let the other four start up before him. He looked back at Rachael's picture and couldn't look away.

4 noticed that there weren't any footsteps following her and looked back to see Daniel staring at her picture. She came back down and put a hand on his shoulder. Daniel looked down at her with sad eyes.

_"Time to go."_ She flashed at him.

He nodded as if he understood her message and took one last look back. He then turned and began walking back up the stairs with 4 keeping a hand on his shoulder.

As he walked up the final moments of his human life came to him.

_He closed the recorder hoping that his plan would work. He hesitated for a moment; looking at the sprawled body of his mentor and feeling the minute amount of gas that had entered his system begin its deadly work. He then turned to the table in front of him and activated the Talisman in a different sequence. The storage sequence._

_ The Talisman split open and began to glow. He picked up the racket shaped transfer plate and held it in front of his face. After a second that seemed to be a lifetime, three beams of energy shot out at the plate. He felt them enter his body and felt excruciating pain as his soul was being ripped from his body. Like his mentor though, he never uttered a single sound of pain._

_ Finally his soul was torn from his body and it fell to floor. As he passed through the air and into the Talisman, he heard a voice._

_ "You've been given a second chance to right the wrongs of my own creations. Rid my world of this evil and restore peace to it."_

Authors note: How's that for a revealing chapter? If the tempo is fast please tell me. I'm still trying to control that. If you loved it please review. If you hated it, no flames, just some constructive criticism please. If you're in between, review. I need them to keep this story good. Bye!

P.S. If you don't know the songs in this chapter go to YouTube and listen to them with their lyrics and add them into the story yourself.


	8. The Other Side

Authors note: I don't have much to say today except that JuliaPhobia was close in her review of Chpt. 6. Read and find out what I mean.

Disclaimer: I do not own 9.

**The Other Side**

It had been many days after Daniel had recounted his past to them. The next morning, after he had gotten some sleep, he seemed to be different. He was happier now that he had gotten the weight of his actions off of his shoulders.

"WAKE UP! BACK TO TRAINING!" Daniel yelled.

They all fell out of their beds surprised by this rude awakening.

"What?" 7 said, rubbing the back of her head with her eyes half closed.

"YOU HEARD ME! BREAK'S OVER, TIME TO GO BACK TO TRAINING!"

7 and 9 groaned at this. They had gotten used to the break and had forgotten the training regimen that had to be continued.

"FIVE MINUTES TO GET READY, THEN OUTSIDE!" Daniel yelled. They heard him leave the library.

They all walked out of their rooms and looked at each other dejectedly.

"Let's go." 9 said. They all walked to the first floor and out into the courtyard.

They saw Daniel at the archway of the library and walked over to him.

"You first task today is to run." He said with his arms crossed.

"To where?" 7 said with an attitude. Daniel's head snapped toward her. She took a step back when she found his optics half an inch away from hers.

"Did I say "where"? You're just going to run until I say stop. You got that?" He said slowly.

"Y-yes." She said, her voice shaking.

"GO!" Daniel shouted.

They immediately started running through the emptiness. They ran as a group for the next hour, keeping the same speed. But their break had dulled their senses. They were nearly wiped out by the first trap. They had no warning when it was sprung. None of them even heard the trip-wire break when 4 stepped on it.

Suddenly an explosion shook the ground as a dormant mine that Daniel had unearthed went off, shooting a car into the air. They saw the flaming wreckage arc into the air and begin to come down, right over them.

All of them dived to the side as the wreckage crashed to the ground, sending hot shrapnel in every direction. They all took cover but 7 was too surprised.

She stumbled as she tried to dive and fell to her knees. She heard a dull _thud _and opened her eyes. Right in front of her was a sharp piece of glowing red metal. She sat there for a minute looking at what had just come close to killing her.

"GET MOVING!" Daniel yelled from a rooftop.

Immediately they all got up from the cover and began running again.

They kept running until half the day was gone. No more traps were sprung but Daniel had shouted "SPRINT!" at least a dozen times, working them to their limit.

"STOP!" Daniel finally yelled.

They all collapsed onto their knees breathing heavily. They barely looked up when Daniel landed in front of them.

"Pitiful." He said, shaking his head.

"What?" 7 managed to ask. "We ran a lot farther than last time." She said between heavy breaths.

"Your endurance is doing great." He said. "It was your awareness and reaction that was pitiful.

7 dropped her head, remembering the glowing piece of shrapnel.

"I think today's drill will be reflex and reaction." He said with a smile.

They didn't even have time to groan before Daniel told them to jog back to the library. They all got back up and began to jog back.

When they got back Daniel was standing in the middle of a clearing with his bow already out.

They all took up positions around him and watched him intently. Again 7 was nearly taken out as the first arrow came towards her.

All she saw was a blur and a silver blur coming at her head. She twisted to the side just in time. She could actually feel the arrow touch scrape her neck as it passed by. She turned back to Daniel expecting him to be shooting at the others. What she saw was Daniel standing still, a slight smile on his face.

They were all wondering why Daniel wasn't firing when they saw 3 lurch forward.

She nearly blacked out from the sudden hit to the back of her head. She looked around to find the culprit. All she saw was a lone rock on the ground.

They watched as 3 picked up the rock and look at it quizzically.

_Thud_

They all turned in time to see another rock bounce off the ground in between 4 and 7.

_Thud Thud_

They all turned again to see two more rocks bounce off the ground in different locations. 4 was the first to understand and looked towards the sky. They all looked up and were horrified at what they saw.

In the sky was an army of brown dots flying towards them. Already more were hitting the ground around them with more frequency. Suddenly all of them were dodging as rocks were falling out of the sky towards them.

9 was dodging pretty well until he saw a blur out of the corner of his optics. He looked over to see an arrow speeding towards him. He stepped to the left to avoid it, only to get hit by two rocks.

Suddenly they had to watch the skies and Daniel, trying to avoid the falling rocks and his arrows.

Twenty seconds and many painful hits later it was all over. The rocks had stopped falling and Daniel had run out of arrows.

"What was that?" 9 said in an exasperated tone.

"I told you that I was going to take it up a notch when we did this drill last time." Daniel said, walking over to retrieve his arrows.

"But what were the rocks?"

"A surprise." Daniel said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "In a battle you have to be ready for surprises. If you are then they won't surprise you."

"What was with you shooting arrows at us then?" 7 asked.

"Often times in a fight you'll have to face more than one opponent at the same time. You'll have to pay attention to both of them or you'll be giving them a chance to kill you easily." He said, remembering how he had lost track of the other duplicate and how it had nearly killed him.

7 sighed, knowing she had lost another argument.

"Go inside and rest." Daniel said.

They all looked at him in surprise.

"You were pretty banged up from this drill. You need to give your bodies a chance to heal or all you're doing is hurting yourselves."

"Yeah." 9 and 7 said at the same time. 3 and 4 were nodding their heads in approval of the rest.

"Up early tomorrow for training!" Shouted to them as they walked back inside.

They all groaned.

**Two weeks later:**

They were walking slowly through the town trying to make it back to the library. It was another awareness drill where they had to make it back to the library without any arrows landing at their feet, all the while trying to spot Daniel.

"Hey guys."

They all whipped around to find Daniel walking up behind them.

"Uh, Daniel. Aren't you supposed to be trying to hide from us?" 9 asked.

"I decided not to." He said as he walked closer to them.

7 noticed something odd. Daniel didn't have his bow with him.

"Hey where's your bow?"

"Oh, I left it…" He suddenly pulled out his staff and began attacking them.

Caught by surprise all they could do was jump out of the way. Their training paid off though as they were all able to pull out their weapons as the landed. They circled around him to gain the advantage.

He stood there, staff held in a defensive stance and balanced on the balls of his feet. They all stood there like that for a minute before 7 got impatient. She lowered her spear and charged at him. The others followed a second behind her, caught off guard by her sudden charge.

He smiled and whirled to face 7, dropping down and sweeping his foot out as he did so. 7 jumped to avoid the trip but Daniel was already on his feet and rammed his elbow into her gut winding her.

He turned and attacked 3 with an over-hand cut. She blocked with her knives but he had pulled his staff back before she could lock it.

Again he turned and deflected 9's thrust and punched him straight in the face sending him flying. He landed five feet away and rubbed his jaw.

_"That really hurt." _9 thought. _"He's going all out."_

With that he stood up to enter the fight once again.

4 and 7 came at him at the same time. 4 thrusting with her right and 7 performing an over-hand cut.

He grabbed 4's wrist and turned so her arm went under his armpit. He turned her wrist so that her blade intercepted 7's overhand. The over-hand had more power though and knocked the blade out of 4's hand.

3 decided now was the time to come in and rushed at him swinging her knives to put them on his throat. Daniel responded by throwing his leg out and kicking her in the gut.

The combined forces of his kick and her rush caused her to black out and drop her knives.

He lifted his foot higher and lifted 3's unconscious body off the ground. He spun his leg forward and threw 3's body into 7 knocking her off her feet.

4 tried to put her knife onto the back of Daniel's throat but he released her right arm, grabbed it again, and threw her over his shoulder into the oncoming 9. 9 tried to stop to catch her but they ended up hitting each other with enough force to knock 4 out cold.

9 was knocked to the ground but was able to get back up quickly. He looked over to see 4 on the ground unconscious. He looked around to see 3 was also unconscious. 7 was getting off the ground and looked over to him.

They both nodded to each other and ran at Daniel, timing their run so they would both arrive at him at the same time. He did something unexpected though. He rushed straight at 7 favoring a one-on-one fight rather than two-on-one.

7 saw him rushing at her and swung an off-balance side-hand cut at him. He easily ducked under the clumsy attack and rotated so that he was behind her. He then drove his elbow into the back of her neck, hard. The force of the blow knocked her out immediately.

He looked over in time to see 9 spinning his light-staff at him. He began back pedaling away from 9's spinning blade but he was unable to attack. 9 had an idea hit him while Daniel was "fighting" 7. He had twisted the light-bulb so that when he spun it, it would confuse Daniel and make it impossible to counter-attack.

He kept backing up and 9 kept advancing. 9 saw that he was backing Daniel to the wall of a ruined house. He smiled knowing that once Daniel got there he could easily force the blade onto his neck or chest.

He saw 9 smiling and knew what was happening: he was being backed up to a wall. 9 smiled all the wider as he swung his blade at Daniel's neck. He was surprised when he saw Daniel jump and turn in mid-air.

He planted his feet on the wall and pushed off. He turned in mid-air again and swung his leg at 9. The kick connected with 9's face and sent him flying into a pile of junk across the street.

9 was dazed and in pain. He tried focusing but the kick had just been too powerful and he let his head fall. When he looked up again he was able to focus and saw Daniel standing over him with his staff pointed down at him.

"You lose." He said as he lifted his staff higher.

9 got scared as he saw Daniel begin to plunge his staff at him.

_PING_

The staff was jerked almost horizontal from the force of whatever hit it. 9 looked up to the rooftop above him and saw…Daniel?  
"Well, I guess I could finish you off first." The other Daniel said, looking at the Daniel on the rooftop and smiling.

The Daniel on the rooftop fired off another arrow in the blink of an eye but the other Daniel was faster and dodged the arrow while running up to the building Daniel was on top of. The Daniel on the rooftop fired off more arrows but the other Daniel kept dodging them as he jumped up to the rooftop.

The other Daniel five feet in front of Daniel who threw his bow and quiver away.

"I hate you duplicates." He said with malice, unsheathing his staff.  
_"Duplicates!" _9 thought, his head finally clearing.

"I know you do." The duplicate Daniel said smiling.

"One question though."

"Yes?"

"How come you can talk; and in my voice?"  
"You could call it new programming."

With that answer the duplicate Daniel began to attack. 9 watched in awe as the two dueled, making sure to keep an eye on which Daniel was the duplicate. He was watching in horror though as it was clear that the duplicate was a much better fighter.

9 rushed over to 7 and began to wake her up, periodically looking back on the fight. Finally he got 7 up and she shook her head.

"What's happening?" She asked.

"The Daniel we were fighting was a duplicate." He explained quickly. "Daniel's fighting it now but he's losing."

7 looked over and saw the two Daniels. She then saw which one was the real Daniel as he took a punch to the face.

"Well c'mon" she said grabbing her spear. "Let's help."

"No." 9 said.

She looked at him in surprise.

"You know how easily he took us out before. We wouldn't be any help."

She looked at him, then at the fight, then back at him again.

"You're right." She said, loosening her grip on her spear.

"Right now we need to wake up 3 and 4 and get out of here."  
"Right." She said. They then went off to wake the other two.

Daniel was panting hard. He could feel pain in nearly every part of his body. He had gotten a few blows in, but not as many as the duplicate had. The duplicate was standing 7 feet away. It was smiling and breathing easy.

He saw 7 and 9 go to 3 and 4 to wake them up out of the corner of his optics.

"Now or never." He said.

He rushed at the duplicate with his staff in attack position. The duplicate smiled and took a defensive stance. Just as it raised its staff to block his attack Daniel pushed the hidden recess in his staff and it split in half.

The duplicate only had time to register surprise before Daniel began swinging his two blades in dizzying combinations. The duplicate tried to block his attacks but its surprise and Daniel's speed were too much. Two attacks slipped through and gave it cuts on its left arm and face. Daniel then followed through with a punch to its chest sending it five feet back.

The duplicate got up and shook its head.

"Well now. That's more like it!" It said looking at him with a smile. It then pressed the hidden recess in its staff and it split as well.

"Perfect copies." Daniel said in anger.

The duplicate began to attack again. They were back on a level playing field again and the duplicate once again took the upper-hand. It began pushing Daniel back as he tried to block for all he was worth.

The attacks were too much though and the duplicate scored a hit and its blade sliced into Daniel's arm. Daniel screamed in pain and tried to counter-attack but the duplicate blocked his attack and cut Daniel again in the leg.

Daniel screamed again before he saw a side-hand cut coming at him. He tried to block the attack but it was too strong and knocked the blade out of his hand.

The duplicate planted its foot on his chest and kicked out sending Daniel into the air. He landed five feet away and slid until he hit the chimney. The force of the landing had knocked his other blade out of his hand and it slid off the inclined roof.

He looked up to see the duplicate slowly walking to him. It smiled as it rejoined the staff. Daniel closed his eyes and quickly summoned the special vision he had. He opened his eyes to try to find the weakness of the duplicate in its inner workings. What he saw was a glowing green aura around the duplicate, shocking him still.

"You have a soul." He said.

The duplicate punched him in the face, jerking his head to the side and pulling him out of his vision.

"Yes I have a soul." It said smugly. "Can you guess whose?"

Daniel thought back to anything that might suggest whose soul the duplicate had. With a gasp he remembered newspapers that he'd seen before his discovery of the other fabrication machines.

**Chancellor gone missing.**

** Chancellor found dead in middle of nowhere.**

** Chancellor found with multiple wounds.**

** Chancellor suspected of being tortured before being killed.**

"The Chancellor's. The Fabrication Machine gave you the Chancellor's soul."

The duplicate kicked him in the stomach.

"No you idiot." He said while Daniel doubled over on his hands and knees. "I am the Fabrication Machine."

Daniel looked up in horror.

"That's right. I recorded your fights with every one of my machines after the first two spider-bots. Watching all of the recordings I rather took a liking to your body and built a copy of it. But I knew that its artificial soul wouldn't be enough to defeat any of you, so I transferred myself into this body and came for you. That's why I can talk by the way, I have a soul."

"But how did you get The Chancellor's soul?" Daniel asked.

The Fabrication Machine kicked him again causing him to double back over.

"I captured him. You thought that The Chancellor left us deactivated but we had already been activated by him. Eventually I was able to capture him. He put up a fight but I got him in the end. Before I captured his soul I knew that his whole soul would be able to overcome my A.I., so I decided to share him with my brothers. I took a third of his soul and transported him to my brothers so they could get some. After we were done my third brother tossed the body away. An unfortunate E.M.P. blast shut us down though and we remained like that until our "cousin" awoke us."

Daniel chose this moment to shoot up and attack. The Fabrication Machine was fast though and caught the punch. It then kneed him in the gut and brought its elbow down on his head. Daniel fell to his hands and knees again.

"DANIEL!"

The Fabrication Machine looked over to see that all four of them were awake again. The ones named 3 and 4 were still on their knees though. It looked back to Daniel and smiled.

"There's one thing I want you to know before I kill you. Before the E.M.P. went off, I attacked a military base. It was heavily fortified but my machines broke it in the end."

Daniel made no response.

"There was someone there that was quite the fighter. I had my machines capture them and bring them me before they burned the base down. She was very rebellious. I tortured her for the fun of it. She lasted longer than my other prisoners though. She kept on muttering a name. 'Daniel' she would keep saying. It seemed to keep her hope alive throughout my torture. I killed her nice and slow out of spite for resisting my torture for so long. Is it coincidence; or was she very beloved to you?"

Daniel still made no response but it could see a change in his body language. That was enough of an answer for it.

"After I kill you I'll make sure to torture your friends here before I kill them nice…and…slowly."

With that it raised its staff and plunged it down at his head.

The staff stopped in mid-strike.

Daniel had brought his arms up and grabbed the staff with both hands. The Fabrication Machine was shocked for a second before it tried to force the staff down, but Daniel kept it in place.

Slowly the staff was forced back up as Daniel raised his head to look at the Fabrication Machine.

What it saw gave it its first taste of fear.

Daniel had a look in his optics that made him look like a demon. With a roar Daniel pulled his arms in opposite directions and the end of the staff shattered.

The Fabrication Machine backed away in shock as Daniel slowly rose to his feet. He looked at the Fabrication Machine and growled. Then he sprung forward faster than any of them had seen.

The Fabrication Machine swung its other blade at his neck. Daniel threw a flat-palmed punch at the oncoming blade. When the two attacks met the blade of the staff shattered.

Daniel jumped in the air and delivered a kick to the Fabrication Machine's face. The Fabrication Machine went flying and rolled when it hit the ground. Using the momentum of the roll, it got to its feet. When it looked up it saw Daniel was almost at him again.

It tossed the useless staff away and waited until Daniel was right on him before throwing a punch at a range that nobody would've been able to avoid.

Normally nobody could've avoided the punch but Daniel, in this enraged state, was able to dodge to the side. He grabbed The Fabrication Machine's wrist and twisted it so its palm was facing towards the sky. He then brought his elbow down on the upturned elbow of The Fabrication Machine.

It screamed in pain as the blow not only broke its arm but tore it clean off below the elbow. Daniel then spun and hit The Fabrication Machine with its own arm.

It spun and retreated a few steps. It looked back to see that Daniel had discarded its arm and was coming back at it with amazing speed.

It launched a clumsy kick to his side. Daniel caught the blow on his side and wrapped his arms around the leg. With a jerk to the side he broke The Fabrication Machine's leg.

It screamed when Daniel broke its leg and then screamed louder when Daniel lifted it into the air while still holding onto the broken leg. Daniel then spun and threw the Fabrication Machine into the same chimney he had hit.

It hit the chimney and slid to the ground. When it looked back up it saw Daniel once again closing in on it with amazing speed. The Fabrication Machine then decided it was time to retreat. It let out a metallic screech and instantly three falcon-bots rose out from behind the surrounding buildings.

Daniel stopped and looked up at these new enemies, then turned to look back at his primary enemy to find that it was not there. He growled in anger for letting his prey to escape then turned to the three falcon-bots.

They screeched and dove towards him. Daniel crouched and held his arms out. He roared as he jumped to attack his new prey.

The Fabrication Machine was panting with the effort and pain of having to drag its ruined body away. It was nearing the gorge that, once it crossed, it would be able to escape and regroup.

"Always have an ace in the hole." It muttered.

It knew that the falcon-bots would not be able to kill Daniel but they would be able to hold him off long enough for it to escape.

It whipped its head around thinking it heard a noise behind it. It saw nothing. Still it managed to increase its pace towards the gorge.

It began looking around fearing that it was being followed. Still it saw nothing.

"Must be the wind." It muttered. Still it couldn't resist the urge to look around again.

A fist flew straight into its optic as Daniel punched it. The optic shattered and The Fabrication Machine was sent flying. It hit the ground and rolled to the edge of the gorge.

It got to its knees and looked up to see Daniel standing over it.

Daniel looked down at the pathetic remains of the Fabrication Machine. Half its right arm gone, its left leg bent at a disgustingly odd angle, and its ruined optic hanging from its head.

He raised his foot up to kick it into the gorge.

"You will never defeat my brothers." It said in a high-pitched, screeching, metallic voice. "They will destroy the ones you now hold dear and make you watch as they suffer. They will tear off your limbs and leave you to wallow in your misery."

With a roar Daniel kicked The Fabrication Machine in the face, shattering the metallic skull and killing it instantly. The dead body hung in the air for a second before it fell into the gorge. Daniel watched it fall until he could not see the body any more.

3, 4, 7, and 9 got there in time to see Daniel kick The Fabrication Machine into the gorge. They waited for him to walk away from the gorge.

He didn't.

Eventually they got tired of waiting and moved to Daniel's side.

"You all right?" 7 asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah." He said.

They stood there looking into the gorge.

"What was that?" 9 asked.

Daniel knew he was referring to what he had become.

"That's what I turn into when my anger gets pushed beyond its limits. I'm sorry that you had to see the other side of me."

"If you hadn't we'd all be dead right now." 9 said

"Yeah." 7 said.

3 and 4 nodded in agreement.

Daniel smiled at them all.

They all looked back into the gorge.

"One down. Two to go." Daniel said.

With that they all turned around and walked back to the town.

Authors note: Whew. What a chapter! Suspenseful, exciting, and sad all in at the same time. I do believe I did well with this chapter, if I do say so myself. Keep looking for the next chapter. I promise it will be a happy one. Oh, before I forget, I've decided that the next chapter will be another M-rated chapter. See ya later!


	9. Celebration

Author's note: Hey all y faithful readers. I have to say that I…am…psyched! Our first game of the Bayside Soccer Tournament is getting closer! And it's at home! Woo! Any way, now that that's done, this is going to be a happy chapter, no enemies, no fighting, just fun. And a surprise. Please review.

Disclaimer: I do not own 9. Shane Acker does.

**Celebration**

Daniel was the first one to speak as the five stichpunks walked back into the town.

"Well, I've got to go find my weapons. You guys head back to the library; okay."

"Sure." 9 said. "C'mon guys."

They all turned at 9's gesturing and began to walk back to the library. Daniel watched as they walked away. Only when they were out of view did he begin to search for his weapons.

He found his bow, quiver, and arrows easily; having voluntarily getting rid of them. His staff was a little harder though as he had be fighting for his life when he lost the separated pieces and couldn't remember where they landed.

He tried to remember exactly when he had lost them. He shivered involuntarily.

"Having to remember something I'd rather forget is torture." Daniel said to himself.

Once again he closed his eyes and looked back to the fight. Yes, there it was. One was knocked out of his hand around ten feet from the chimney. The other came out when he landed after the following kick.

"Best start at the chimney first." He said.

He walked over to the house where he and The Fabrication Machine fought. He walked over until he was below the chimney and began searching the piles of junk piled at the bottom. He found the first piece quickly enough.

"Ah, there you are." He said as he saw it sticking blade-first into the junk. He reached over and tried to pull it out. It didn't budge.

He grunted as he tried again, but to no avail.

"You wanna play Excalibur huh? Fine, I'll play."

He put both hands on the hilt and pulled up with all of his strength. Still it wouldn't budge.

"That's it!" He said losing his cool. He grabbed the hilt and was about really start yanking, but he stopped.

"Wait a minute." He said, remembering Merlin's riddle.

"_Only thou with the lightest of touches call pull Excalibur from the stone and be proclaimed king."_

He sighed.

"Might as well try." He said. This time he grabbed the hilt with one hand and gently moved it from side-to-side. He was rewarded with movement.

"A-hah!" he exclaimed. He grabbed the hilt with both hands and pulled. The blade came free. He held it triumphantly over his head…until the piece of junk his foot was resting on came loose.

He lost his balance as it came loose and tumbled down the pile, all the while dislodging more junk and creating an avalanche. He hit the ground with a grunt and lay there as pieces of junk kept falling.

Eventually the avalanche stopped and Daniel opened his eyes.

"Damn that hurt." He said as he got to his feet shaking his feet. He looked around and saw pieces of junk all around him.

"Guess I'd rather be hurt than crushed though." He looked back at his hand and saw he still had his staff piece.

"Glad I don't have to look for you again. Now let's find your twin."

He looked back up to the chimney and realigned himself with it. He carefully walked ten feet out. When he was sure he was ten feet out he began to look around. Luckily it didn't take long as he saw it lying alone in a clearing. He walked over to it and picked it up.

"No more shenanigans?" He asked as he joined the two pieces together. He slung the complete staff onto his back and began to walk in the direction of the library. Just as he was about to leave the clearing h looked around one more time. He immediately saw something he wished he didn't.

He walked over and picked up the arm of The Fabrication Machine. As he looked at it anger swelled up inside him as he remembered the information it had decided to share with him.

His breath became heavier and he started to grip the arm tighter.

"AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!" He screamed. He flung the arm away from him.

It hit a nearby car and dented the door.

He then fell to his knees and began shuddering. He was taking quivering breathes as he sat there.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that but he did know that if he didn't return soon the others would begin worrying.

He slowly got to his feet. Before he left he looked up to the cloudy sky.

"I'm sorry for what you had to go through." He said to nobody. "But I swear, I'll get them back of what happened to you."

With that he began walking to the library.

**Back at the library:**

As Daniel walked into the library he saw the others sitting down staring into space. Having released all his anger on the arm, he was in a considerably better mood and decided that this wasn't the attitude for a major victory.

"What are you guts just sittin' around for! He yelled.

All of them jumped and looked at him with shocked/confused expressions on their faces.

"We just defeated The Fabrication Machine! We should be celebrating!"

They all stared questionably at him, not sure how to react to this sudden outburst.

"But…how?" 7 asked.

Daniel thought for a moment. Then an idea came to him.

"Go outside and play a game of soccer." He said. "I'll come get you when it's dusk."

With that he raced out of the library.

They were all left standing there, surprised from this sudden outburst of energy from him.

"You know what?" 9 said. "He's right. We just defeated a Fabrication Machine. We should be celebrating!"

"Yeah!" 7 said.

3 and 4 nodded their heads vigorously. Daniel's energy was contagious.

Soon they were all outside and playing a game of soccer. They were pulling their best moves too. Undoubtedly it was the best they had played since Daniel had introduced the game to them.

Before they knew it, it was dusk.

"You guys ready to roll?" Daniel asked as he walked up to the field.

"Hell yeah!" 7 said.

"Where are you taking us Daniel?" 9 asked.

"Ah. That's a secret, so I need you guys to close your optics and keep'em closed until I tell you to." He said with a smile.

"But…" 7 complained.

"Keep'em closed." He said, wagging his finger.

"All right." She said in a mock-sad voice.

Once they all had their optics closed, Daniel began leading them through the emptiness.

He led them for ten minutes before each on of them began to hear music.

Instantly they all knew where he was taking them and began to open their optics.

"Not yet." He said, giving them a gentle shove.

"All right." 9 and 7 said in an exasperated tone. Daniel was sure if 3 and 4 could talk they'd have said the same thing.

They felt the change as they entered the house and remembered they had to walk down stairs.

"How are we supposed to get down the stairs?" 9 said.

Daniel saw through the guise to open their optics.

"Well you can walk down them or I can just shove you down them." He said in a playful tone. "Either way your optics are gonna stay closed."

Not wanting to find out if Daniel was serious or not, they began feeling for the drop that signaled the stairs with their feet.

They hit it a second later and hesitated.

"C'mon." Daniel said, giving another small shove.

They all instantly jumped down, not wanting to tumble down them by Daniel's hand.

They began feeling for the end of the step. When they felt it they jumped down again. After two more steps they had memorized the pattern of the stairs and started going faster.

When they reached the bottom the automatically turned to the right, but they all kept their optics closed.

"You can look now." Daniel said in a happy tone.

They all opened their optics as quickly as they could. When they saw what Daniel had done though, they all gasped. Daniel had managed to turn the dusty basement into a dance floor. The junk had been cleared out to make space for dancing. Hanging from the middle of the room was an intact and spinning disco-ball he had managed to find. Positioned in various places around the ceiling where colored LED lights. They were all positioned at the disco-ball so that little spots of different colored lights moved around the room. And last but not least, the iPod was playing music at full blast and the screen was showing what song it was playing.

"Leave It by Yes" 7 said "Daniel this is awesome."  
She grabbed 9's hand and instantly led him onto the dance floor. Daniel chuckled as he saw 9 try to keep up with 7's energy.

"Looks like he's fallen into the trap." He said quietly.

3 and 4 looked up at him questionably. He looked back down at them.

"The trap of obedience to a girlfriend." He said with a smile. With that all three of them began laughing at the age-old joke. Once they managed to stop laughing they watched 9 and 7 dance, 9 having finally caught up to 7's pace.

"Go on you two. Go dance." Daniel said.

3 and 4 looked up at him and started flashing their optics.

"I'm not much of a dancer." He said. "I'll be fine."

They both looked back at each other than ran onto the dance floor. He watched as all four of them danced to the song, pleased with his work.

They all continued dancing through five more songs before 7 finally got tired and left the dance floor. She walked over to Daniel and sat down next to him. They both watched as 9, 3, and 4 danced together in a triplet.

"You know it'd be nice to join in on your own party." She said, still looking out at the others.

"I know. But I was never good at dancing."

"So? Find something else to do."

"What do you think I've been doing? Just sitting here watching you guys dance? I haven't come up with any ideas on what to do."

That's when the song came on.

"Oh no." Daniel said.

"What?" 7 asked.

"I hate this song."

She looked at the iPod screen. It read 'Don't Stop Believin' by Journey.

She listened to the intro.

"Why do you hate it? The music is pretty good." She said.

"I don't hate it for the music." He said. "I hate it because it's one of the best songs ever."

"That doesn't make any sense." 7 said. When Daniel didn't answer she looked back to him.

He was gone.

"What the…?" 7 said looking around.

"Just a small town girl."

They all heard the lyrics, but a different voice was in as well.

"Livin' in a lonely world."

They all began looking around and saw him standing on top of one of the moved junk pieces.

"She took the midnight train goin' anywhere."

They all stared as they saw Daniel singing the lyrics to the song.

"Just a city boy."

Suddenly 7 knew why Daniel hated this song for being so good.

"Born and raised in South Detroit."

He couldn't help singing to it.

"He took the midnight train goin' anywhere."

And he had a terrible singing voice.

"A singer in a smokey room."

Suddenly 7 was full of energy again and jumped up to her feet.

"The smell of wine and cheap perfume."

She ran out to the dance floor, grabbed 9, and started dancing.

"For a smile they can share the night. It goes on and on and on and on."

Suddenly the four stichpunks were dancing on the floor with Daniel singing as if it were a real concert.

"Strangers. Waitin'. Up and down the boulevard. Their shadows searchin' in the night."

"Streetlight. People. Lookin' just to find emotion. Hidin' somewhere in the night."

"Workin' hard to get my fill. Everybody wants a thrill."

"Payin' anything to roll the dice just one more time."

"Some'll win. Some will lose. Some are born to sing the blues."

"Oh the movie never ends. It goes on and on and on and on."

"Strangers. Waitn'. Up and down the boulevard. Their shadows. Searchin' in the night."

"Streetlight. People. Livin' just to find emotion. Hidin' somewhere in the night."

Daniel held the note as long as he could before the solo came in. No one had time to make a comment on his voice as 7 had picked up the pace with the solo.

Daniel took a much needed breather and watched as 7 led the pace through the solo. After he caught his breath he began listening to the music to see when he needed to start up again. Finally he heard it.

"Don't stop. Believin'. Hold on to that feelin'."

"Streetlight. People."

"Don't stop. Believin'. Hold on to that feelin'."

"Streetlight. People."

"Don't stop. Believin'. Hold on to that feelin'."

The song began to fade out.

Streetlight. People."

Daniel held the extended word until the music finally faded out. Only to be replaced by another song.

Nobody was listening or dancing as they were all laughing. Daniel smiled and knew exactly what they were laughing at. He jumped down onto the dance floor and walked over to them.

"You know every lyric to that song?" 7 managed to gasp.

"I told you it was one of the best songs ever."

"But what made you think you could sing?" 9 gasped.

"Nothing. I know I can't sing."

"So why did you?"

"You know you would've if knew the lyrics too!"

They all just broke out into another fit of laughter. Daniel tried to retain his dignity as he let them laugh it out, but it was contagious and he began laughing too. They all laughed through the current song. And the next.

Finally they were able to regain some breath…and balance. They all walked over to the pile in front of the iPod and just listened to the music, too exhausted too dance.

They sat there just listening to the songs as they rolled by.

Finally 7 spoke up.

"Out of all the bands I've heard so far. I think my favorite is The Beatles."

"Yeah." 9 agreed.

3 and 4 shook their heads and flashed their optics.

"Any reason why?" Daniel prompted.

"I don't know." 7 said. "I guess it's because their songs kind of calm me."

9, 3, and 4 nodded their heads in agreement.

"That's understandable." Daniel said. They all looked at him.

"The Beatles were hippies. I assume you all know what hippies are."

They all nodded their heads. 3 and 4 had read about them and when they showed 9 and 7 they were both genuinely interested and learned about them.

"Because of that most of their songs were about peace…or drugs."

They all snickered.

"They were the most famous band in the world. One of their albums was actually called 'We're more famous than Jesus'. That little remark got them kicked off of British radio for a while."

They all looked questionably at him.

"They were originally from England." He said.

"Ohhhhh." 9 and 7 said.

"In a sense what they said was true. They were popular all over the world, and not everybody in the world was a Christian. But everybody loved The Beatles."

They all nodded, seeing the sense in the words.

"George Harrison. One of the band members. Actually converted from Christianity to Hinduism. Eventually though, they broke up. John Lennon., probably the most popular man in the world and the undeclared leader of the band, married Yoko Ono."  
"After the marriage he still did a few more songs. But a few years after the marriage he was shot."

"What?" 7 asked in horror.

"Who did it?" 9 asked.

"One of his biggest fans."

"Huh?" 9 and 7 both said.

"The guy wanted to be famous. He knew how popular John was, so he shot him. Usually the only one more popular than the one assassinated is the assassin."

"That day was said to be the day the whole world was silent. And it was in respect for one man."

"George Harrison died later of lung cancer. Ringo Star, the drummer, and Paul McCartney, the guitarist, formed their own bands. They still did benefits together though. And that's the basic story of The Beatles."

By coincidence or not, the next song to come on was Revolution 1 by The Beatles.

They all sat there and listened to the lyrics. 9, 7, 3, and 4 could tell it was a song about peace.

After it was over 7 spoke up.

"That's a good song." She said.

They all nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, an idea popped into Daniel's head.

"Would you guys like to listen to the other Revolution on here?"

"There's another?" 7 almost yelled.

"Sure is."

"Hell yeah!"

Daniel got up and turned the touch pad until he reached Revolution 9. He selected it and sat back down. The others were standing up, prepared to begin dancing to the song. But when the song began they looked up in confusion. As the song played on they stared as in absolute confusion. Then they began to start shaking their heads.

7 walked over to him and was surprised to see him just laying there listening with a content smile on his face.

"How can you just sit there?" She asked in disbelief. The others walked over and were equally surprised to see his nonchalant manner while this song was playing.

He looked up at them.  
"It kind of soothes me." He said peacefully.

"You're insane!" she said.

"I revel in the insanity called genius."

They all expected him to start laughing like normal but it seemed the song really did soothe him as he closed his eyes. They others sat down and did their best to try to make it through the rest of the song. They barely made it.

They were all relieved when another song came on, this time with a danceable beat. Daniel watched them dance wishing he could join them.

"I've already humiliated myself enough today." He said to himself.

Suddenly, another idea popped into his head. He discreetly made his way over to the iPod and checked the next song on the list.

"Perfect." He said.

He made his way over to the dance floor to get either 3 or 4. He found 4 first and pulled her off the dance floor. At first she flashed in complaint but when Daniel told her his plan she nodded her head in agreement.

When the song ended Daniel paused the iPod and turned off the lights with a shot of his arrow, leaving the basement in complete darkness.

"Hey!"

"What the…!"

Suddenly the iPod turned back on and so did the lights, but they weren't pointed at the disco ball any more. They were centered at the floor where Daniel and 4 stood opposite one another.

7 looked at the iPod to see what the song was.

"Hocus Pocus by Focus?" She said.

They could instantly tell it was a face paced song.

Suddenly Daniel and 4 began attacking each other. But it wasn't a real fight. It was more theatrical, both of them moving fluidly and simultaneously, their false attacks coming within millimeters of hitting the other. They both leaped, slid, and flipped in time with the fast pace of the music, making the dance seem even better.

When the song ended they both threw their legs up and they connected and stayed there, positioned in midair, locked at the heel, not moving.

They finally let their legs down, turned, and bowed to their audience.

9, 7, and 3 all began clapping as the two stood up from their bows.

4 looked over to Daniel and made a decision.

They all saw as 4 moved towards Daniel.

Daniel saw the movement in the corner of his optic. He looked over in confusion, wondering what 4 was doing.

In that moment of confusion 4 wrapped her arms around Daniel and kissed him.

Author's note: I'll guarantee nobody saw that coming! I decided to change the 9/7 "love" scene and replace it with this one. I thought _The twins need some lovin' too. And it's not like they can't develop crushes too. _So I made the scene. For the issue of the voice actor of Daniel, since he's supposed to be me I can't think of anyone else's voice so decide for yourself. If you want to listen to the songs mentioned go to iTunes or YouTube. Oh, and I challenge you to listen to Revolution 9 and not act the same way 9, 7, 3, and 4 did. (If you can find it) See ya later!


	10. Broadcasting

Author's note: Who's ready for more suspense! My ideas for this story just keep gettin better and better! Please review.

**Broadcasting**

3, 7, and 9 stood there in shocked silence as 4 and Daniel held the kiss. After what seemed to be a lifetime they broke apart.

"Uhhhhh…" was all Daniel could say. 4 smiled at him and kissed him once again. They all turned to look away in embarrassment as the two kissed again. When they broke apart once again Daniel had found his voice.

"How long have you been waiting for a moment like this?" he asked with a sly smile. 4 just batted her optics and smiled back.

"Are you two done over there?" 7 asked sarcastically. 4 jumped at hearing her voice. In the heat of the moment she had completely forgotten that the others were even there. Daniel, never being caught off guard, replied even more sarcastically.

"You're one to talk 7. How many have times have I caught you and 9 in a make-out session."

That shut 7 up immediately. 9 turned away in embarrassment. Secretly though he was laughing for finally seeing 7 lose an argument. 4 dropped to the ground and banged her fist. 3 tried to remain passive but had her hand up to her mouth to hide her smile. All of them knew that if 7 could blush her head would resemble a strawberry.

It took a while for everyone to regain their composure. 4 took one last fist bang, then got up and looked at Daniel.

"All good things must come to an end and so must this party." He said. "But let us rejoice in the fact that we have defeated a powerful foe and that hopefully, the other two will be destroyed soon enough." With that Daniel grabbed 4's hand and began to walk towards the stairs. The others followed right behind him.

"That was a good speech." 9 said.

"It was beautiful." 7 said. "Where'd you learn to speak like that?"

"I was always a good speaker. But I became really good after taking Public Speaking merit badge when I was a Boy Scout." He said.

They all expected Daniel to fall into a somber mood at the mention of his life before the war, but instead he smiled and began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" 9 asked.

Daniel managed to gasp out an answer.

"It's just…_gasp_…one kid…_gasp_…had to give…_gasp_…an on-the-spot…_gasp_…speech…_gasp_…about contra…_gasp_…ceptives…_gasp_…and every time he said contraceptives…_gasp_…he said…_gasp_…CONDEMENTS!

That was all he could say before he broke out into another fit of heavy laughter. They all stood there shocked at the mistake the poor kid had made. They all then fell to the ground and laughed right along side with Daniel.

"Okay, okay guys c'mon." Daniel said after laughing for who knows how long. "We've got to head back to the library." One by one the others stopped laughing and got up.

"Yeah, let's go." 9 said grabbing 7's hand and climbing up the stairs. 3 was the next to start up, but not with a look back to Daniel. 4 started up but looked back when Daniel wasn't following.

"Go on. I've just got to turn off the lights."

4 looked at him skeptically but started back up. Daniel looked around and sighed inaudibly. He walked over to the plug and pulled the extension cords apart. Instantly all the lights went out.

4 stood outside of the doorway waiting for Daniel, thinking he was going to spend a moment down there with the picture of Rachael. True to his word though, once the lights went out she could hear him climbing the steps.

"What's the matter?" Daniel asked when he got to the doorway. "You didn't trust me? Or you just couldn't stand another moment without me?"

4 punched him in the shoulder.

_"Seems like someone's a little too sure of themselves." _4 flashed at him.

"Ow! Well if that's the way you feel I'll just leave." Daniel said in mock anger.

4 quickly began shaking her head as Daniel turned around and prepared to jump. She grabbed his hand and turned him around so he would look at her. When he saw her she was giving him a look that screamed 'I'm sorry'.

"Just kidding." Daniel said with another sly smile. She punched in the arm again for duping her. Daniel noticed how she never let go of his hand though. The two of them started walking back to the library still holding hands. Daniel felt a happiness swell up inside him that he hadn't felt for a long time.

**3 days later:**

"All right guys, it's time we went scavenging again." Daniel said to the group.

"Finally!" 9 shouted. "I've been running out of tinkering materials for a while now."  
"9, control yourself." 7 said patting him arm. "So…what are the groups going to be?" 7 asked expectantly. She and 9 shared a knowing glance, already knowing how Daniel would divide them up. Ever since the party he and 4 had been inseparable. Though, much to 7's annoyance, they were doing a better job at hiding their "moments" than she and 9 were. They had caught Daniel and 4 making out only once and it had been near the end anyway.

"Group 1 will be 9, 7, and 4. Group 2 will be me and 3." He said.

9 and 7's mouth's hit the ground. They had been expecting Daniel would pair himself with 4 and 3, leaving them alone for some "business". Now they would have 4 with them and they wouldn't be able to satisfy a growing need between the two of them.

4 stared at him with a look that said 'Why?'

"I don't trust us alone." He said with a smile. 4 playfully punched his arm. "And your sister looks like she needs some company." He said. 4 smiled at him and nodded. That was another reason she liked him so much. She knew that he would never do anything to harm her sister.

She raced off to find her sister and tell her who was in which group. She found in a back corner of the library.

_"Hey sis."_

_ "Hey."_

_ "Did you hear about the groups?"_

_ "I heard we were going scavenging today. Judging by the smile on your face I can guess the groups."_ 3 turned away with a sad look on her face.

_"Why are you the one who's sad? You're with Daniel."_

3 whipped around so fast she fell off her seat.

_"WHAT!" _She flashed while getting up off the ground. _"How come he didn't put you two together?"_

_ "Said he didn't trust us alone."_

3 looked at her sister.

_"I don't either."_

_ "You little…"_

4 tried to grab her sister but she somersaulted over 4 and began to run back towards the antechamber of the library.

_"Come back here!"_ 4 flashed at her sister as she chased her back through the library. 3 laughed as her sister tried to catch her, then stopped abruptly finding herself in the same room as the others. 4 then slammed into her, knocking both of them to the floor. The two of them slid a few feet before 4 got up and grabbed 3's arm, pinning her sister to the ground.

_"Gotcha." _4 flashed with a smile. She was confused though when she saw her sister looking past her. 4 looked up and saw that they were right at Daniel's feet.

"You guys ready to go?" He said smugly. 4 instantly jumped off of her sister and nodded embarrassingly.

"Then let's go!" 9 shouted. He could barely contain his excitement as he ran out of the library with 7 on his heels. 4 took one last look at Daniel before running off to catch up with 9 and 7.

Daniel watched her leave then helped 3 off the ground.

"You ready to go?" He asked her.

She nodded and the two of them walked out of the library and into the emptiness. The two of them walked at a leisurely pace looking around at the piles of junk and searching for anything that might be useful later on. 3 was distracted though as her focus kept returning to Daniel. He looked over at her and saw her looking at him.

"You alright?" He asked in concern. She nodded even though, in truth, she wasn't.

_"It's just that I kind of liked you too."_ She flashed knowing Daniel wouldn't understand. She looked up at him expecting him to be looking at her but his attention was on one of the junk piles, not on her. She sighed sadly.

Daniel began tapping his palm with his fingers absent-mindedly. 3 listened to the sound, the small ticking noises comforting her some. Suddenly she looked up in surprised at Daniel. His attention was still on the junk piles but the tapping he was doing with his fingers…she could understand it!

_"I guessed that much…I guessed that much…I guessed that much." _He repeatedly tapped.

_'You can talk to us!"_ 3 flashed at him in surprise. He looked at her with a knowing smile.

_"I can understand you too."_

"_But…how?" _3 flashed. Suddenly she felt immensely embarrassed as she recalled all of the times that she and 4 had flashed about Daniel right in front of him thinking that their conversations were secret.

_"I was the one that actually developed the method for you two to communicate to each other. The Scientist told me you two would most likely be mutes and he spent many sleepless hours wondering how to make it so you two could communicate with each other."_

_ "So…you understood what me and my sister were saying about you?"_

_ "Every word."_

3 looked away in embarrassment.

_"Hey, don't worry about it." _Daniel said, turning her back around.

_"Does 4 know you can understand us?"_

"No. And don't tell her either." Daniel said in a hurried voice.

_"Why not?" _3 flashed suspiciously.

Daniel took a minute to master himself.

_"Because I'd prefer it if she keeps thinking I can't understand her. It'll also get out of a lot of her nagging."_

3 fell to the ground and started heaving, banging her fist onto the ground as she did so. Daniel let her laugh it out knowing that his life could hang on her happiness. Finally 3 stopped heaving and got to her feet.

_"Alright, I won't tell her."_

Daniel looked visibly relieved.

_"Do you mind if I asked why?"_

_ "I've been on the receiving end of 4's nags and I've wished many a time that she thought I couldn't understand her."_

Daniel didn't fall into hysterical laughter like 3 did but he did chuckle audibly.

"Let's find some parts or 9'll kill us for not finding anything he can tinker with."

_"Yeah."_ 3 flashed. They both began looking back at the junk piles. Daniel noticed that 3 had a spring in her step now that she had a secret with him, a connection, now. Daniel smiled to himself, amazed at his problem solving skills.

They were both digging through a junk pile trying to reach a rare part that 3 had noticed buried in the pile when they heard it. Daniel picked his head up and listened. 3 looked over at him.

_"What's the matter?"_ Daniel held up his hand to silence her. Suddenly she heard the noise too.

_"What is it?" _She asked.

"I don't know." Daniel said in confusion.

_"Is it a machine." _She asked with an edge in her voice at the prospect of defeating another machine.

"I don't think so." He said. "It sounds familiar, but I can't place a name on it." He listened for a few more seconds.

"It sounds like a…!" With that Daniel took off into the emptiness, towards the noise. 3 was stood there for a second, caught off guard by his sudden departure. Then she took off after him.

_"What! It sounds like a what!" _She flashed after him. Daniel didn't answer but only ran faster. They kept running through the emptiness. 3 was soon confused as to where they were as Daniel was running too fast for her to track their turns. Suddenly he stopped at the edge of clearing with many piles of junk. 3 looked around and noticed that the piles mostly contained military equipment.

Daniel suddenly took off again towards one of the junk piles. As 3 chased after him she notices that the noise was coming from somewhere up on the pile. Once Daniel reached it he began jumping from one piece to another, not staying on one for more than a second. 3 could barely keep up with him as he climbed higher and higher.

She looked up and saw he was on a standing stock-still on a ledge in the pile 6 feet above her. She jumped up to the ledge and landed right next to him.

"A radio." He said. She looked at him in confusion. "It sounds just like a radio." 3 looked to where he was staring and gasped when she saw a radio in front of them. Its displays glowing. Suddenly Daniel wasn't beside her anymore. She looked around in surprise.

"EVERYBODY HERE!" She heard Daniel yell above her. She looked up in surprise to see him at the top of the pile.

"EVERYBODY HERE!" He yelled again. His voice echoed all over the town. Satisfied that the others had heard him he jumped down to the radio and began turning knobs, trying to locate any transmissions. 3 stood there and watched as he turned the knobs with a focused look on his face. Suddenly she heard a noise below her.

She looked down to see 4 jumping up the pile, but no sign of 7 or 9.

_"What's going on?" _4 flashed.

_"Where's 9 and 7?"_

_ "Lost them a few minutes ago."_

_ "Where are they!"_

_ "If I knew I wouldn't have lost them." _4 flashed with an irritated look on her face.

3 sighed, knowing her sister was right.

_"Daniel's found a working radio. He's trying to find if anyone's on the other side._

4 looked over her sister's shoulder to see Daniel turning knobs.

_"What do you suppose he's looking for?"_ 4 asked her sister.

_"Other people. What else could he be looking for?"_

_ "That's exactly it 3. There are no people left, and he knows it. So why's he looking?_

_ "His friends. You forget that he sent out 3 Talismans. Even if Rachael was caught and killed, that doesn't mean his two other friends weren't."_

Understanding dawned on 4's face after her sister finished.

"Ah"

They both snapped around at the voice. Daniel was standing up too. The voice had come from the radio. It was there for less than a second, but it was there.

"Go find 9 and 7 now." Daniel said. He once again kneeled down and began turning the knobs more carefully. 3 and 4 took off into the emptiness to search where 4 had last seen 9 and 7.

7 was sitting down in a corner of a cave that she and 9 had found in a junk pile with her back to the wall. When they went in they had covered the entrance with a hunk of steel. Enough light filtered through the gaps in the junk so the two of them could see, Suddenly 7 threw her head back and moaned in immense pleasure.

"Ohhhhh…9." She moaned.

9 head was in between 7's legs and couldn't hear her as her legs were clutching the side of his head covering his hearing receptors. He was moving his tongue around inside of her clit, giving her an even greater amount of pleasure.

"Oh 9." She panted, her chest heaving, "OhhhhOHHHHHH!" She screamed in pleasure as she came. Suddenly 7's legs relaxed and her whole body slumped down in exhaustion. She was breathing heavily after having such a powerful orgasm. She looked down at 9 who had kept his head in the same area, licking up the rest of 7's essence.

When he finished he looked up at 7.

"Enjoy that much." He said to her. She was about to answer when the "door" to their cave began to move. They both shot up as 3 and 4 stepped into the cave. They all stared at each other. 3 and 4 saw 7 panting and 9 looking visibly embarrassed. Suddenly they knew what had been going on just moments ago and were shocked into an even greater embarrassment.

They all stood there not knowing what to do. Suddenly 3 and 4 remembered what had just happened and rushed over to the two, grabbing their arms and pulling them along with them.

"What's going on?" 7 asked.

3 and 4 started gesturing wildly. Neither 9 or 7 knew what they were trying to say but they both assumed the worst. Another Fabrication Machine. With that belief they both followed 3 and 4 as fast as they could. They followed them to the pile and began to climb after the two.

When 3 and 4 reached the ledge they heard that Daniel had made much more progress. Now the voice was coming in, but it was broken up.

"Ase…eing…verrun…reques…elp…"

"What's going on?" 7 asked.

"This radio was on when me and 3 found it." Daniel explained, still working on the knobs. "I've been working with it and I've been zeroing in on the voice." Suddenly Daniel backed off as the voice came through clear with no breaks or static.

"On all emergency channels. Base being overrun. Requesting help. Over. Repeat. On all emergency channels. Base being overrun. Requesting help. Over."  
They all stood there shocked.

"There's still people out there!" 9 yelled. They all started celebrating at the sudden news. All but Daniel. Daniel began walking away his shoulders slumped.

"Daniel. Where are you going? Why aren't you happy?" 7 asked, noticing Daniel's attitude."

"There's nothing to celebrate." He said.

"What do you mean? Don't you hear the voice?"

"Yeah, I hear it. But nobody's on the other end."

"What?" 9 asked.

"Listen. It's repeating. And there's no gunfire. This is broadcast set on repeat, not a transmission." He said sadly. They all looked at each other, then listened to the voice. He was right, there was no gunfire, no other voices. It was just a ghost.

"Can anyone hear me?"  
They all began walking away, feeling the depression that inevitably come with the crushing of euphoria.

"Can anyone hear me?"

They all stopped at the edge. 7 put a hand on Daniel's shoulder.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"There's nothing to be sorry about." He said.

"Daniel, are you out there? Can you hear me Daniel?"

They all whipped around at the mention of Daniel's name. Suddenly Daniel rushed forward.

"Are you out there Daniel?"

"Someone find a mike!" Daniel shouted. They all jumped to action searching frantically for a mike.

"Transmitting on all frequencies. Can you hear me Daniel?"

"I'VE GOT ONE!" 9 yelled. He jumped back onto the ledge and gave the mike to Daniel who frantically began hooking it up to the radio.

"Daniel, if you can hear me I'm at Aberdeen base. Hurry here. I can't last much longer." Daniel finished hooking the mike up just as the transmission turned to static. The static died as Daniel pressed the button on the mike.

"Hello. Hello. Are you there? Can you here me?" The static returned as Daniel's let go of the button allowing transmissions to get through. The voice didn't answer.

"Repeat. Are you there? Can you hear me? Who are you?" The static returned once again as his let go of the button. No voice came through. Only static. Suddenly the static disappeared as well as the radio's batteries went dead. They all stood there not knowing what to do.

4 walked up to Daniel and wrapped her arm around him.

"So what do we do?" 7 asked.

Daniel looked up at them. He looked everyone of them in the optics seeing the conviction in their minds.

"We're going to Aberdeen."

Author's note: Again, not much to say here except that I'm awesome a suspenseful scenes. Thanks to JuliaPhobia for answering my reviews on your story.


	11. An Old Friend

Authors note: Sorry for the long wait but I've been busy writing an essay for a $5000 scholarship to any college or university. Please review!

Disclaimer: I do not own 9.

**An Old Friend**

"3, 4. Do one of you have a map of this area?" Daniel said.

The twins' optics started flashing lightly as they looked back through their photographic memories. 3's optics suddenly stopped as she found the type of map Daniel wanted. She swung her head over to a flat piece of steel and projected the map onto the steel.

Daniel walked up to it and studied it intently.

"Here we are." He put his finger on a spot about 2 centimeters away from a city on the map marked 'Washington D.C.'. "And here's Aberdeen." He put a finger on his other hand on a spot. Aberdeen was on the right shore of a body of water named 'The Chesapeake Bay'. It was a little south of where they were but they were on the same side of the bay.

"But that must be about fifty miles away!" 7 cried out. "How in hell are we supposed to get there before the machines overrun him?"

"We're driving." He said in a matter-of-fact tone. 7 was about to ask the obvious question but Daniel beat her to it. "Do you two know what defines a car as 'in working condition'?" He asked 3 and 4.

They both nodded.

"Good. I want both of you to go around and find a military vehicle that is working or that we can easily fix. Now" He said to the duo. They both nodded and jumped off the junk pile. They hit the ground running and began their search with the few military vehicles in the clearing.

"7." He said. She looked over to him. "I want you to find as much .50 cal. ammo as you can and bring it to the vehicle that 3 or 4 finds." She nodded and began her own search. "9, you and me are going to get that .50 cal. off the library roof and put it on any vehicle 3 or 4 may find."

"Alright, but what's with all the heavy armament?" 9 asked.

"You heard what he said. He's being overrun. That sounds like enough of an excuse to load up on weapons." Daniel answered. He then jumped off the junk pile and booked it to the library with 9 hot on his heels.

"9. When we get to the library go get your tools and start on the .50 cal. I'm getting a sled I made from the shed next to the library."

"Okay." 9 said. When they got to the library Daniel ran off to the right while 9 rushed straight into the entrance. He bolted up the stairs and burst into his and 7's room. He grabbed his toolbox from the shelf, knocking over half a dozen other items as well. He then rushed back out of the room and jumped out the window and onto the ledge that housed the .50 cal. He pulled the hidden lever on the gargoyle at a run and jumped up to the roof where the gun was emerging from its hiding place.

Daniel was running to the shed when he heard the gun begin to emerge. He looked up and saw 9 hurriedly disconnecting the gun from its mounts. Suddenly, he was hit with an idea.

"9!" He shouted up to him. 9 looked down at Daniel. "DISCONNECT THE LATERAL AND HORIZONTAL CONTROLS TOO!" 9 looked down at Daniel in confusion. Why would he want those disconnected too? Then he saw Daniel's idea and quickly went back to work. Daniel picked up his pace and soon made it to the shed. He pulled the sliding door open with a grunt and looked inside. He quickly located the sled and ran over to it. Looking at it he saw something that he had completely forgotten.

"Shit." He said. On the sled were the parts and skins of the duplicates they had defeated. He quickly set to clearing the parts off the sled. He couldn't do it too quickly or he'd mix up the parts. As he was clearing the parts he heard an unfamiliar sound in the emptiness. He cocked his head to one side, trying to identify the foreign sound. It was the sound of a car starting. 3 and 4 had found a working vehicle.

"Shit!" He said again, resuming his work with more urgency. Finally he got all the parts off the sled and began lugging it out of the shed. He quickly pulled it under where 9 was standing with a disassembled .50 cal.

Seeing Daniel from his perch 9 shouted down to him. "HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET THIS DOWN?"

"DROP IT DOWN ONTO THE SLED!" Daniel shouted back up to him. 9 stared at him as if he were insane. It was the quickest way to get it down but he could miss the sled or hit it and break it completely.

"DO IT!" Daniel shouted up to him. 9 looked at him, then the gun, then back at him. After some internal debate he decided to go with it and began to push the gun off the ledge. Just as it was about to fall 9 double-checked his aim, then gave it one last shove into the air.

The gun turned slowly through air as it fell. To 9 and Daniel it seemed to fall in slow motion as it came closer to the sled. It hit the sled with an almighty _BANG! _It bounced once on the sled but stayed on. Both Daniel and 9 let out a relieved breath. 9 then jumped down of the ledge and joined Daniel at the sled.

"Get back and push." Daniel said, jerking his thumb to the back of the sled. 9 nodded and ran back. He put his hands to the back of the sled and began to push. With 9's extra strength behind him, Daniel quickly guided the sled into the emptiness. Five minutes later they made it into the clearing to see that 3 and 4 had managed to drive the vehicle into the clearing. 7 was beside it working to put unspent .50 cal. bullets into empty clips for the gun. Daniel was glad to see it was and off-road vehicle.

"I didn't know 3 or 4 could drive." Daniel said.

"Neither did I." 9 said

7 looked up to see 9 and Daniel running up to them with another .50 cal. on a sled.

"7!" Daniel called. "Stop loading those clips and help 9 put this thing on the roof." He told her as the pulled up beside the vehicle. 7 nodded and jumped up onto the cart. Daniel left the sled and began to search the junk piles frantically. After a few minutes of searching he found what he was looking for. He grabbed them and ran back to the vehicle to see that 9 and 7 had actually managed to get the gun up on the roof. When he got to the vehicle he jumped onto its door handle, then up onto the roof. He tossed what was in his hands to 9. 9 caught them and looked down to see what they were.

What he had where small pulley wheels.

"Use those to hook up the guns so the can slide on the lip of the gunner's hole." He directed 9. 9 looked over to the lip and back at the wheels. He realized that they would fit the lip perfectly and set to work. "7. 3, 4, and I will help you load the ammo into the clips while 9 works on the guns." 7 nodded appreciating the help.

They both jumped down to the ammo. 3 and 4 got out of the driver's seat to help the two as they had heard what Daniel said. Soon they had all the ammo loaded into the clips and onto the clip-shelf under the gunner's hole at Daniel's command.

"How's it comin' on the guns 9?" He asked.

"Finished." 9 said with a final twist of his wrench.

"4. Get into the driver's seat and get us to Aberdeen." She nodded and jumped onto the steering wheel. 3 jumped down with her and got onto the pedals. At once the car started to roll forward as 3 pushed the gas pedal. 4 began turning the car through the streets by leaning right or left on the wheel allowing her to keep her body above the dashboard and on the road.

"Once we leave the town ignore the roads and head straight to Aberdeen at full throttle! Once Aberdeen is in your sights get back onto the road!" Daniel shouted down to them. They both nodded, understanding his need for urgency. "7. You get down there and relieve them when they need it." He told her.

"Sure." She said and jumped down to join 3 and 4.

"9. Me and you are going to get on the guns." He saw 9's questioning look. "We need to familiarize ourselves with the roll and pitch of the guns so we can shoot better. And so we don't crash into each other."

"Good idea." 9 said, understanding dawning in his mind on why it would be a good idea not to be crashing into one another. He jumped into the seat of one of the guns and Daniel jumped into the seat of the other. Soon they were both swiveling the guns around the lip and pointing them in every direction. The guns were a little hard to aim as the vehicle began bouncing around on the uneven ground. After crashing into each other three times Daniel decided they needed verbal commands.

"Hey 9." He said. 9 looked over at him. "You know the positions of the numbers on a clock right?"

"Yeah, I do." 9 said, wondering where this was going.

"Good." Daniel said. He got out of the gun seat and went down into the vehicle. 9 waited for Daniel to come back up. When he did he had a Sharpie marker in his hand. He went to the front of the gunner's hole and drew and 12 there. He then walked around the circle drawing the numbers 1-11 in even spaces around the hole. 9 soon saw that he was drawing a clock.

"Now." Daniel said, tossing the marker back into the hole. "Whenever we switch positions we call out what number we're over so we both know where each other is at. I'll cover 1-6 while you cover 7-12." Daniel said. 9 saw the importance of the numbers and nodded in satisfaction.

"Another good idea." He said to Daniel.

"Not my idea." He said. "It was the military's." He jumped back into his gun and began swiveling around. With him and 9 calling out their positions the number of times they hit each other dropped to zero. After another thirty minutes both he and 9 were certain that they were attuned to the guns.

"Put the guns to the front!" Daniel shouted at 9. 9 swung his gun to 12 right beside Daniel's. He saw Daniel get out of his gun and jump through the hole. Thinking he should probably do so too he jumped down after him. He landed in on the middle armrest in time to catch what Daniel was saying.

"We're probably going to see Aberdeen any time now. When we get there I want 7 up top with me and 9 to point out targets that need both of out undivided attention. Most of the ground targets should be taken out by the vehicle but there may be machines that we haven't faced yet. If you see any like that you need to yell what number they're at."

"What number?" 7 asked.

"You'll see when you get up there. 4, I want you to locate where he is on the base and drive us directly to there. When you get there slow down enough for 7 and 9 to jump out. You guys will hold off any targets around him while we drive around and take out machines. If at any point you think we're going to be overwhelmed grab him and lead him to where you guys jumped out of the vehicle. We'll swing around and slow down enough for you to jump back on. Everybody got that?"  
They all nodded.

"Good." Daniel and 9 jumped back up onto the roof and got back on to their guns.

"Keep your gun facing forward until we get inside the base a little." Daniel said. "I want to get the first machines in overlapping crosshairs when we surprise them. After they're surprise wears off break the front and cover your numbers."

9 only nodded. His stomach was tightening up from the nervousness. So far they had only been defending themselves and reacting to what ever The Fabrication Machine decided to throw at them. Now they were going on the attack for the first time. Sure he had rescued 7 from the war factory but that was supposed to be covert. There was nothing covert about this plan.

"Are those birds?" Daniel asked in confusion.

9 shook himself from his thoughts and looked out to the horizon. He could just see tiny black specks flying around in the air.

"They sure look like birds." 9 said. Suddenly one of the specks jerked and fell below the horizon line.

"What the hell…" Then they heard a sound that none of them expected to hear.

Gunfire.

"It's Aberdeen!" Daniel yelled. "7, get up here! 4, get us onto the road!" The car swerved as 4 pulled the vehicle into a hard left. There was a bump as they went onto the raised asphalt but the vehicle smoothed out. 7 jumped up to the roof and looked around. She saw the numbers drawn around the hole and understood their meaning instantly. Soon the base was in sight and they were bearing on it at full speed.

"Aim for the machines in the air first." Daniel said to 9. "They have a greater threat to us than any on the ground. 7, if there's any machine that needs one of us immediately just yell out the number and whether it's high or low. If it needs both of our attention yell both then the number and if it's high or low." They both nodded in understanding.

Just as they were thirty seconds from reaching the base Daniel noticed a closed fence surrounding the base. "Drive right through the fence 4!" He shouted down to her. Focused on driving she didn't answer but he knew she heard him. "Don't start firing until we hit the fence." He told 9. 9 nodded with a steely determination on his face.

_CLANG!_

The vehicle burst through the fence as if it were made of paper and sent part of it flying. As soon as they did Daniel and 9 opened fire on the machines in the air. At the _CLANG _the outermost machines turned to look behind them. Most of them didn't know what hit them as the vehicle hit them and destroyed them instantly. But there was a whole army of machines in the base and those that were taken out didn't add up to a thirtieth of the amount of machines in the base.

Surprised at the sudden appearance of the vehicle some of the machines in the air were shot down before they could begin to take any type of evasive maneuvers. But they soon got over their surprise and some wheeled around to attack the vehicle. Daniel saw that the element of surprise was gone.

"Break off!" He yelled to 9. He and 9 immediately swiveled their guns from the front and began to take on individual machines in the air on their sides. 4 was driving around the base looking for any sign to where Daniel's friend might be. As she was doing this she was swerving around the road to hit as many machines as possible.

7 was looking around to spot any machines on the ground that posed a threat. At first she had tried looking to the ground and air but she soon saw that Daniel and 9 had that well covered and switched to just looking for ground machines. There seemed to be no threats though as none could stop the vehicle or catch up to it after they passed.

Daniel and 9 were having a hard time hitting the machines in the air. They were fast and very maneuverable. They had to aim in front of the machines to hit them. If they aimed at the machines then it would be gone by the time the bullets got there. Between this and 4's swerving it was almost impossible to hit any. But the machines had no outward weapons and to attack they had to dive and land on the vehicle itself. When they did this 9 and Daniel no longer had to aim in front of them to hit them and were soon scoring hits.

"5 low!" 7 yelled. Daniel swiveled his gun to the position and saw the machine. It had four wheels and a number of mechanical arms with weapons on the end of them. It was slowly catching up to them from behind. Daniel put the machine in his sights and fired a burst of three shots. The heavy rounds hit the machine hard causing it to flip and tear in half. Daniel then returned his sights to the air as his momentary absence had given the machines in the air a chance to dive on his side.

Soon Daniel and 9 were alternating between air and ground as 7 called out more roller-bots to them. Between the divided attentions a machine in the air was able to get through the barrage of bullets and landed on the roof. It screeched and went for 9's gun, ready to tear it and the stichpunk of the roof. As it reached out 7 intervened and cut off its hand with her spear. It pulled back and looked to where the attack had come from but nobody was there. Then its head jerked slightly as 7's blade went through its neck. The head fell off and rolled off the vehicle and onto the ground. 7 looked back and saw three roller-bots coming up from behind, ready to take out the back wheels. She got behind the headless body of the machine and heaved it off the roof. It rolled down the back window, off the roof, and collided with the roller-bots destroying them instantly.  
7 wasn't able to enjoy her quadruple victory as three bullet holes appeared on the roof next to her. She looked up in surprise to see what looked like a toy plane diving onto them. Then she saw a flash from the bottom of it and another bullet hole appeared next to her. She dived to the roof.

"6 high both!" She yelled in terror. 9 and Daniel were already there. Hearing the bullets hit the roof they had looked up to see the machine. They both sighted their guns and opened up. Between the two guns the machine was torn to bits in a second. Daniel saw a flash in his peripheral vision and turned his gun to it expecting to see another flying gun-bot. Instead what he saw was a turret firing on top of a tower. After a moment of confusion he realized that must've been the person who sent out the distress signal.

"4, get us over to that tower!" He yelled down to her. She heard him and looked around for the tower. She saw it in a brief flash when she passed an alleyway between two buildings. Immediately she veered the vehicle into a hard right to get into the alleyway and keep the tower in sight. Inside the alleyway the flying machines would've had to bottle neck to reach the vehicle and be highly vulnerable to attack. They knew this and waited for the stitchpunks to reemerge. Daniel took the respite to make sure 9 and 7 knew what they were doing.

"You guys know what you have to do?"

"Yeah." 9 said. "Once we get close to the tower 3 slows down and we jump out and take out the surrounding machines. Hold them off until we win or get back to the vehicle if we're being overwhelmed."

"Good. Don't do any hero stuff either. I need both of you and the guy on the gun alive."

"We know Daniel." 7 said. "Stop mothering us."

Daniel didn't have time for a comeback as they exited the alleyway and were once again surrounded by flying machines. Daniel and 9 began firing into the air once again trying to take down the machines,

"I"M OUT!" 9 shouted to nobody. 7 understood and leaped down to the clip shelf under the gunner hole and retrieved one. She jumped back up with a clip to see that 9 had managed to eject the spent clip and began to reload the gun.

"LOADED!" She shouted to 9. Immediately he opened fire on the machines that had begun to dive on his position. Some were so close that parts rained down on the vehicle itself. Soon most of the diving machines were gone as the ones who survived saw that 9 was back in action.

"GET READY!" Daniel shouted 9 and 7. 9 jumped out his gun to see that 3 and 4 had closed the distance to the tower greatly. They were also close enough to see that the turret was close to being overwhelmed by the machines climbing up the tower.

"9, reload me before you guys go!" Daniel yelled to him. 9 jumped down to the shelf and retrieved a clip. He jumped back up to the roof to see that Daniel was still firing. When he came up beside the gun Daniel ejected the clip so 9 could reload him. 9 reloaded Daniel as quickly as he could and locked the clip into place. Once Daniel saw it was locked in he opened fire on the gathering machines.

"9, get over here!" 7 yelled at him. He looked to see that she was at the edge of the roof and they were seconds away from pulling up beside the tower. He ran up and joined her at the edge poised to jump off.

"You ready?" he asked her.

"Oh yeah" She said with a competitive edge to her voice.

Before he could strike the bet 3 slowed the vehicle down. Once they felt the vehicle slow down they jumped off. They fell for a second before hitting the ground. Once they hit it they rolled to absorb the shock of the landing. They heard the vehicle accelerate once they hit the ground. They jumped up to their feet and ran to the tower. Once they reached the first support they began wielding their weapons in deadly arcs cutting down the unsuspecting machines form behind. Before long they were jumping form support to support taking out every machine on the tower before they even knew the two stitchpunks were there. They cut down the last few machines and jumped up to the final level to see the turret swiveling and firing at the machines circling them in the air. They ran up to the turret but stopped in surprise. On the turret was another stitchpunk.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" The stitchpunk shouted at them. They only stood there in a shocked silence.

"I SAID WHO ARE YOU?" He shouted again, this time looking at them. 7 was the first to recover.

"We're here to rescue you!" 7 yelled at the stitchpunk.

"WHO SENT YOU?"

"Daniel!" She yelled at him. She instantly saw the flicker of recognition in his eyes,

"WELL IF YOU'RE HERE TO RESCUE ME, TURN AROUND!" He shouted. both 9 and 7 turned to see that machines had been climbing up the tower while 7 was talking. Immediately they jumped into action and began cutting down machines with precise attacks. But the numbers of the machines were overwhelming and slowly the pair were being driven back to the turret. At one point 7 was picked up from by a machine that had gotten behind them. She turned to attack it but was too late. She felt a jerk and saw the machines head ripped off by something. It let go of her and fell to the ground but she was allowed no rest and was once again fighting machines.

Daniel was having a tough time too for he now had to defend the vehicle from all sides and altitudes without the added help of 9 or 7. And to make matters worse for him the machines were getting smart. They noticed the vehicle was circling the tower and began to wait in ambush until the vehicle came by. Daniel was firing bullets like a madman and was glad that he had thought to reload later. At one point he looked up and saw that 7 had been picked up by a machine. He quickly swiveled the gun and fired a round. He saw the bullet decapitate the machine but didn't get to see anything else as more machines jumped out in ambush.

9 and 7 were now backed up to the turret fighting off machines as they came. They both knew that this was about as close to the definition of 'overwhelmed' as possible. 9 decided it was time for retreat.

"Focus your fire at the machines on the tower." He yelled

"WHY?" The stitchpunk yelled.

"We need the way to the vehicle cleared!"

"AND WHAT ABOUT ME?"

"You're coming with us! Daniel said to get you back to the vehicle and we need the way clear for that to happen!"

The stitchpunk contemplated the plan for a second. After seeing that it made sense he turned his gun and opened fire at the machines on the tower. The machines on their level were obliterated in a matter of seconds. The other levels began to clear as he focused his fire on them and soon the tower was clear of machines.

"C'mon!" The stitchpunk shouted as he jumped out of his turret. 9 and 7 ran out in front of him as if in escort and began jumping down from level to level with the stitchpunk following. They made it down three levels before they met up with the first machines that had begun climbing.

Daniel heard the other turret stop firing and saw 9 and 7 leading the stitchpunk down the tower. He also saw that they were soon going to met by more machines.

"4, 9 and 7 are retreating! Get us back to the tower!" He shouted. 4 heard him and spun the wheel hard. On signal from her sister, 3 pushed against the brake and the vehicle spun around in a 180 degree turn. Once 4 saw the vehicle was pointed in the right direction she signaled to 3 to step on it. 3 slammed the gas pedal down and the vehicle took off to the rendezvous point.

9 and 7 on the attack and were cutting down machines left and right as they came. They were making process down the tower and would soon be at rendezvous level. but 9 was in trouble. He was fighting a particularly resilient machine and it got the upper hand on him. It feinted to the right but swung left quickly. Caught off-guard by the sudden change. He raised his staff to block the blade coming down at his neck but he knew it would be too late. Just as the blade touched his neck it jerked away. 9 and the machine turned to look what had happened. Above them was the stitchpunk holding a wire that had whipped around the machines wrist. The machine then began to jerk and fell dead in a second.

"How'd you do that?' 9 asked him in awe as he jumped down.

"Built-in electrical wrists." He said showing 9 tubes in his wrist that housed the whips when they weren't needed.

"You two done over there?" 7 yelled to them. They looked over to see she had dispatched all the machines in the area.

"She's good." The stitchpunk said in admiration.

"Yeah. And you'd do well to stay away from her." 9 said in a casual tone. The stitchpunk looked over to 9 in understanding. He was pretty sure he could take this stitchpunk, but if he was really sent by Daniel that meant he was probably trained by Daniel. And that would mean he would put up more than a good fight.

"Understood." He said. 9 smiled at him.

"C'mon!" She said sharply. They jumped, then ran over to her.

"On second thought, you can have her." He said.

"I already do." 9 told him.

"Ouch." He said.

"Tell me about it."

They got over to where 7 was and saw she had a look in her optics.

"What were you two talking about?" She asked, even though she had heard every word."

"Nothing." The stitchpunk said casually. 7 was about to answer but the vehicle appeared around the corner. And in time too because the machines were regrouping around the tower. They all looked at it and saw that it would not be able to slow down for them to jump on or it would be swarmed by dozens of machines in the air and on the ground. They would have to make the jump at full speed.

"Can you make the jump?" 7 asked the stitchpunk.

"Yeah." He said seriously, knowing this was not a time to be exaggerating his abilities.

"Good." She said. She looked back to the vehicle and began judging speeds and distances.

"NOW!" She shouted. They all jumped forward into the air. They all saw that 7's judgments were sound as they would land on the roof of the vehicle. Unfortunately a machine on the ground sensed the importance of the moment and jumped up to the stitchpunks. Its outstretched arm missed 9 and 7 but caught the foot of the other stitchpunk. He cried out as he pitched forward and saw he was going to fall short. 9 and 7 landed on the roof and looked back to see the other stitchpunk falling short. They both dived forward to try and grab his hand but were too late and watched as he fell below the roof. They heard the _BANG _as he hit the side of the vehicle. They crawled over to try and find him on the ground. What they saw was the stitchpunk clinging to the side of the vehicle with his palms and feet pressed flat against the vehicle.

"GET TO THE TURRET!" He shouted up to them. 9 jumped up and got onto his turret and began firing at the machines flying after them. 4 navigated the vehicle through the base and out onto the roads. Once they were out of the base she got off the roads and began heading back for the town. The machines in the air followed them intent on killing them or following them to where they lived. 7 was watching as the stitchpunk slowly crawled up the side of the vehicle. He nearly fell when they hit the bumpiness of off-road but regained himself and began climbing again. When he go close enough 7 reached out and hauled him onto the roof. She lat there and looked over to him expecting thanks but she never got it. She looked up to see he was racing towards the turrets.

"GET OUT!" He shouted at 9. 9 looked at him in confusion.

"I SAID GET OUT!" He shouted, this time yanking 9 out of the seat. 9 flew out of the seat and into 7 who has run up to see what was going on. She managed to catch him and see if he was alright. After he reassured her he was they both looked back in anger at the stitchpunk. That anger died thought when they saw he was obviously a better shot than 9 was. He swiveling and firing so fast it seemed the gun was acting of its own accord. Almost every shot he fired was a hit of some sort. In fact, if 9 and 7 didn't know any better they would say that he was a better shot than Daniel. Soon the sky was clear of the following machines and the gunfire stopped. Daniel jumped out of his turret and walked to the lip of the gunners hole.

"Come here." He said to the others. With that he jumped down into the hole. The stitchpunk looked and 9 and 7 from his seat. They only shrugged at him and followed Daniel down the hole. The stitchpunk jumped out of the seat and followed the others down the hole. The second he hit the back seat he was grabbed and slammed into the backrest.

"Who are you?" Daniel asked him in a menacing voice.

"Daniel, what's wrong? I'm a friend." The stitchpunk said.

"WHAT'S WRONG!" Daniel shouted at the stitchpunk. "What's wrong is that I risked the lives of these four and myself to save someone I'm not sure I even know! Now who are you?"

"Matt." The stitchpunk said quickly.

"Matt who?"

"Zoller! Matt Zoller."

Daniel relaxed. But only slightly. He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. He felt the dim energies of the world flowing around and opened his eyes to bring out his soul sight. He was reassured when he saw the flowing, green aura of soul surrounding the stitchpunk. He pulled out of his vision and let the stitchpunk go.

"Sorry Matt. I had to be cautious." He said.

"It's alright." Matt said, rubbing the back of his head that hit the backrest. "But didn't you know I was a friend when you saw I was a stitchpunk?"

"I'll explain everything when we get back to where we live." Daniel said. "But right now me and you should be on look out for machines that might be following us. I don't want to compromise our base."

"Yeah." Matt said in agreement. "I'd like a break."

With that the two jumped up to the roof and resumed their seats in the turrets. They didn't have to worry though as news of their escape had not yet reached the creature lying not so far away.

Authors note: God damn that was a long chapter. I hope you guys think its good. I'm kinda mad because I won the scholarship but the board nullified it because I'm not a senior. Please review!


	12. Location

Authors note: Usually I'm up and writing after the first review but this time I had a writers block. All my AP Government homework just kept taking away my creativity. After returning to fanfiction and reading other 9 stories I finally broke the block and now I'm up and writing again!

Disclaimer: I do not own 9.

**Location**

The vehicle drove through the rapidly darkening landscape. The five stitchpunks in the vehicle were weary and ready to turn in for the night. But no rest was possible as they were still in enemy territory.

"You seen anything yet!" Daniel yelled over to Matt.

"No!" He yelled back. "I think we should get inside the vehicle!"

"Yeah. It's getting too dark for us to aim effectively!"

Daniel and Matt jumped out of their turrets and jumped down into the vehicle. They saw everybody up at the front and joined them.

"Time for introductions!" Daniel called out to the group. They all turned to face Daniel. 4 had to be careful to make sure she didn't cause the vehicle to veer off in the wrong direction. "Everybody, this is Matt Zoller. Matt, this is 3, 4, 7, and 9." Daniel told him, pointing to everyone as he called out their names.

"Hey." 9 and 7 said. 3 and 4 flashed their greetings at Matt.

"What's with those two?" Matt asked, indicating 3 and 4.

"They don't talk." 7 said a little defensively. "They only communicate by flashing their optics."

"Alright. And what about you two...other than you're obviously good fighters and in a relationship?"

"I'm the warrior of the group." 7 said, picking up her spear. "I was the best fighter here until Daniel came along."

"I'm the builder and second in command." 9 said.

"No." Daniel said. "You're the leader."

"But..."

"I was never the leader and I don't want to be. Just think of me as an advisor/protector."

"But..."

"_You're _the leader 9. No arguments."

9 looked and Daniel and saw that at no point had he ever taken a role as leader. Just as an advisor/protector.

"Fine. I'm the leader of this group." 9 finished, looking back at Matt. "And what are you going to do as part of this group?" He asked.

"I'm your new gun operator." Matt said proudly. "you won't find a better shot than me on the .50 cal."

"What about Daniel?" 7 asked.

"Nooooooo." Daniel said. "Matt has always been a better shot than me when it came to guns. I always beat him at archery though."

"Barely" Matt said.

"Please. The only reason you came close to me at Jamboree was because the bows had barely any draw back weight and the targets were twenty feet away at knee height."

"Wanna bet?" Matt said cockily.

"With what? There's nothing to bet with anymore." Daniel said.

"Bragging rights." Matt said. Daniel thought about it for a second.

"You're on." He said. He held his hand out for a shake to seal the deal. Matt took and shook it.

"Alright So where are the other five? Are they back at the town you're using for base." He said enthusiastically. Automatically he knew that he had asked the wrong question. Everybody looked down and the atmosphere in the vehicle got about ten times heavier. "What's wrong?" He asked uncertainly. Daniel walked up to him and put and hand on his shoulder,

"They're dead. They died before I was reawakened." Daniel told him softly.

"No." Matt said disbelievingly. He sat down and shook his head. "What happened?" He asked. Daniel opened his mouth to answer in a way that didn't put the blame on 9 but 9 stepped forward.

"It was my fault. I saw the Talisman socket and put the Talisman in not knowing what would happen. When I put it in it opened and took 2's soul. His soul reawakened the Fabrication Machine and it started creating more machines to hunt us down. It took 8's soul, then 5's, then 6's, and finally it took 1`s. I was supposed to be taken so 7 could get the Talisman but 1 pushed me out of the way and sacrificed himself. I was able to take the Talisman out of the Fabrication Machine and use it to destroy it. Ten days later we reawakened Daniel and learned of the other three Fabrication Machines. Ever since then we've been training and fighting off machines. We've managed to destroy one of the Fabrication Machines thanks to Daniel but we have no idea where the other two are."

9 sat down ready to take any anger that Matt had towards him for getting the others killed. Matt sat there absorbing the news that 9 had given him. he finally stood up and walked over to 9.

"I understand." He said putting a hand on 9's shoulder. "I probably would've done the same thing if I were in your position. Curiosity can be a dangerous thing, but it's what keeps the drive for knowledge alive." 9 looked into his optics and smiled at him.

"Thanks." He said.

"No problem. Now, as for the location of the other two Fabrication Machines...I know where one of them is...but you're not going to like it." Everybody's heads snapped in his direction. Ecspeacially Daniel's.

"Where?" Daniel asked.

"Fort McHenry." Matt said looking at him. The name held no meaning for 3, 4, 7, or 9. But it meant something to Daniel.

"Shit. You're not kidding are you?" He asked, half hoping Matt had a sick sense of humor.

"Nope. It's there alright."

"How do you know?" Daniel asked. He wanted to be sure that this was where it was.

"When I awoke everything was silent and dreary. After a day of being awake I saw smoke in the distance and knew that something wasn't right. All the humans were dead and the global E.M.P. knocked out all the machines. I wanted to investigate but I knew that some machines might have survived the blast so I set up a base and some made some weapons. Halfway through day a green flash lit up the sky and it began to rain."

"That was the funeral for the others." 7 said. Everyone looked at her and she knew that she had interrupted Matt's story. "Sorry." She said embarrassingly. Matt continued.

"I finished with my defenses and nothing happened for a week. I was starting to relax a little when the first machine attacked. I barely got out of it with my life. The machine must have sent out a signal though because then more machines started coming. I put two and two together and decided I need to scope out the smoke. It took me two days to get there but I finally reached the source of the smoke. I was surprised to be at Baltimore but I looked over and saw the smoke rising from Fort McHenry...and the machines flying around it in patrol. I knew I had no chance to destroy it then so I headed back and bided my time. I fought off more machines becoming better and better. But the machines were getting better in design and more and more were being sent. I knew that I wouldn't last at this rate and decided it was time to call for help. I found a working radio and began transmitting. I'd been transmitting for a week and a half before you guys came along. I've managed to pull off a few more scouting trips and it's really hunkered down in there. Rollers, flyers, spotlights, and machines that are made directly from .50 cals. I caught a few glimpses of the Fabrication Machine too. Brand new design. It can definitely make machines much faster than the other one could."

Matt finished and they all sat in silence. They realized now why Daniel didn't like where the Fabrication Machine to set up at. This sounded like it was going to need a full scale invasion to take it out. Little did they know they were wrong.

"That's all bad but it all just adds up to the fact that Fort McHenry is a completely unassailable position unless you basically own Baltimore. And I guess the Fabrication Machine knows that?" He asked Matt. for once Matt smiled, but only a little bit.

"Not as well as you and I do. It does have machines patrolling the city but it seems like it's not worried about an attack from the city. Personally, I wouldn't either."

"Wait." 7 said. "How can this...Fort Henry be so well defended just by it's positioning?"

"First of all, it's Forty _Mc_Henry." Daniel told her, putting emphasis on the first part of the name. "And I'll show you in a few minutes when we get back to the library."

"How far are from the town anyway?" 9 asked.

"Just take a look outside." Daniel said, jerking his thumb towards the windshield. Everybody jumped up to the dashboard to look out the windshield. They all saw the skyline of the town in the dim dusk light.

"We're gonna have to get back on your training. If not this aware during a fight you guys are as good as dead against these new machines." Daniel said shaking his head, 7 was about to throw a smart answer at him but was interrupted by Matt.

"Damn right. These machines are fast and know how to kill. They won't play with their food. This Fabrication Machine probably knows how dangerous you all since you destroyed all those machines back at Aberdeen. These machines will kill you the first chance they get. No mercy at all." 7 was about throw out another smart response but stopped herself. She thought back to all the times she had come close to dying. When the spider-bot had her it had savored the moment and drawn it out. When she was fighting the Fabrication Machine it knocked her out. She had no doubt it could've easily cut her head off at any point. And when she was back on the tower. The machine had picked her up from behind. It could've thrown her off or run her through with it's blade easily enough. As much as she hated to admit it, Daniel and Matt were right.

"Hey 3." Daniel called to her. "Do you mind slowing down when we get in the town. I don't want to have gotten this far and die because we crashed into a wall at full throttle." 3 looked up and nodded at him. 4 flashed the signal to slow down at her sister a minute later and she eased off the gas pedal. 4 carefully guided the vehicle through the junk filled streets until they reached the library. Once she pulled in front of it she jumped onto the steering column and untwisted the two wires that she had connected, Instantly the engine died and the interior lights turned off. Daniel jumped onto the empty window space and down onto the ground followed by everyone else. Matt caught up to him and began looking around.

"Should've known that you would chose a library with tones of Greek statues as your base." He said.

"Wasn't my choice. 3, 4, and 7 chose this place as their base." Daniel answered. Matt looked at him quizzically. "Apparently 1 was an arrogant leader and 7 couldn't take it anymore. She left with 3 and 4 and they found sanctuary here. The original base was a cathedral but it got burned down by..."

"A bird bot with a harpoon." 9 said from behind."

"Thanks 9." Daniel said.

"No problem." After that they entered through the archway and made their way into the main room. 9 sat down with 7, 3, 4, and Matt.

"So are you going to show us why Fort McHenry is so "unassailable" just because of where it is?" 7 asked.

"Yes I am." Daniel answered, putting his hands behind his back. "4, could you show us the map you had up before?" 4 nodded and directed her optics to the wall. her optics began to flash and the map was displayed on the wall.

"Here is Baltimore." Daniel said, putting his finger on a dot right on the coast of the Chesapeake Bay. "As you can see it has a harbor on the Chesapeake Bay. Now here's Fort McHenry." He put his finger on what seemed to be a small star right next to Baltimore.

"So forts are represented by stars?" 7 asked, thinking that they could use a fort as a better base.

"No." Daniel said. "This is the actual shape of Fort McHenry." 7 felt embarrassed and returned her attention to the fort. "Fort McHenry is right on the edge of Baltimore in between the city itself and the only part of the harbor that you can access from the Bay. These two pieces of land stretch around so that it forms a bottle neck and calm waters in the resulting eddy." He said, tracing the two pieces of land. 7 was beginning to see why the position was a big problem in the first place. "Not only that but it's filled with guns that I presume the Fabrication Machine has gotten operational?" He asked Matt.

"Yep. Spied them test firing the guns one time. I'd guess that they've fixed machines for those guns too." He said.

"No doubt it has. What you all need to realize is that Fort McHenry stood up against the strongest Navy of the time and not only held them off but defeated them as well. This place was built so that the Inner Harbor of Baltimore could never be compromised. That's why we're going to have some trouble getting into it."

"Wait!" 9 yelled. "What do you mean getting into it?"

"What I mean is that we're going to have to come after this Fabrication Machine." Daniel answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"But can't we just wait until it comes after us like before?"

"No." Daniel said sternly. "We can't. You saw the amount of machines that were at the base. We were being overrun with all of us there. Once the Fabrication Machine finds this town it's going to send hordes of machines after us. The only choice we have is to attack it before it attacks us."

"Wait a minute." Matt said in confusion. "Unless I heard wrong, 9 said the Fabrication Machine came after you guys?"

"Yep." Daniel answered. "It was able to make duplicates of 9, 7, 3, and 4 in an attempt to catch us of guard and kill us. They also served a dual purpose. Duplicate 7 went after 9 and vise versa. So when 9 and 7 killed them it was as if they were seeing their loved one dead."

"Ouch." Matt said cringing, imagining the pain that it must have caused the two. He looked over at them and saw both of their faces darken at the memory. "That was a cold move."

"Damn right it was." 7 said, clenching her fists together. "But we're past that now and I doubt the other Fabrication Machines will use that tactic again."

"You're probably right on that." Matt said to her. "Once a tactic fails it's doubtful that it'll be used again." 9 heard this and grabbed onto it.

"Well since the all out invasion didn't work with you doesn't that mean that the Fabrication Machine won't try it again?' He asked hopefully.

"No 9. It'll try it again. We had to retreat so it wasn't a failure, just a setback. It'll launch another invasion once it finds us." Matt explained. "But the duplicates don't explain why, or how, the Fabrication Machine came after you."

"It was able to create a duplicate of me and transfer itself to the duplicate. It caught them when they were in a training exercise and, thinking it was me, knocked them all out one by one. It was about to kill 9 when I stopped it. Knowing it could defeat them easily it decided to come after me. we fought and I got my ass handed to me. It disarmed me and got me to my knees. It told me why it was so good, why it could talk, why it could win."

"How?" Matt asked anxiously."

"Remember when the Chancellors body was found dumped in the middle of nowhere?"

"Yeah." Matt answered. He was beginning to see where this was going.

"Well apparently the Fabrication Machine captured him and took a part of his soul. It then shared the Chancellor with the other Fabrication Machines and when they were done with him they tossed him."

"Damn." Matt said. "That's bad."

"We know" 9 said. "We all got our asses kicked. But like you said once a tactic fails it doubtful it'll be used again."

"That explains why you didn't trust me just because I was a stitchpunk. You thought I might've been a duplicate."

"Exactly." Daniel said.

"But what it doesn't explain is why you guys are still alive. From what I've heard it had all of you beat hands down. How'd you get out alive?" Matt instantly saw the others take interest in things on the floor on in the ceiling rafters. He also saw Daniel's optics darken.

"He got me angry." He said darkly. Matt instantly understood. he knew about what happened when Daniel got too angry.

"It pushed you past your limits?"

"Yep. But it's worse than before. I think it has something to do with being a stitchpunk. Since I'm not human anymore some of the restraints of being a human must've been shed off."

"What do you mean?" Matt asked, wanting to hear what the differences were.

"Remember in Naruto how when he got angry all he would do was growl and crouch down and become insanely strong and fast?"

"Like that?" Matt said in amazement. "You become like that?"

"Yep. And it's bad too. I broke its blade, broke its arm completely off, broke it's leg, shattered it's optic, and took out three falcon-bots on my own."

"Holy shit. How the hell did it push you that far?" Matt asked, stunned at the amount of power Daniel's anger now held. Daniel's optics darkened further.

"When it had me on my knees it decided to taunt me. It told me of how there were humans it had captured and how it tortured some of them. It told me of a girl that was stronger than the others. How she resisted it's torture. How she kept repeating a name over and over." Daniel's voice got shakier and shakier with each sentence.

"No." Matt said in horror.

"How it got angry at her resistance. How it killed her out of spite. How it killed her nice...and...SLOWLY!" Daniel yelled out the last word in a mixture of anger, sorrow, and pain. He collapsed onto his knees and held his face in his hands, shuddering slightly. 4 ran over to him and put her arms around Daniel. The others walked up to him and put their hands on Daniel's shoulders. They knew that Daniel needed to let it out and remained silent. Finally Daniel stopped shuddering and stood up. 9, 7, and 3 saw that Daniel was done and went to go sit back down. 4 held him a little longer, then let him go and gave him a kiss on the cheek before going to sit back down. Daniel looked at Matt and saw contempt in his optics.

"I swear Daniel. When we fight the other Fabrication Machines they'll pay for the pain they caused to you and Rachael." He said in anger.

"Thanks." Daniel said. "It's good to know that we've got another good, dedicated fighter on our side. And to know that we've got best shot on the Eastern Shore too."

"Best shot and fighter." Matt said.

"Not a chance. We'll settle that tomorrow along with the archery bet. As for the schedule tomorrow. We're going to have to reattach the gun to the library, you guys are going to have to train, and we'll have to devise a strategy for taking Fort McHenry, which no one has ever done before." Daniel said, indicating Matt and himself for devising the strategy.

"That's a lot to do." 7 said. She was disappointed that she wasn't devising the strategy but she learned long ago that Daniel knew what he was doing and didn't argue.

"Well then we better wake up early tomorrow." Daniel said clapping his hands together. "That means that you better get to sleep now." All of them groaned and headed off to their respective rooms. Matt turned to look at Daniel.

"So you and 4?" He let the question linger.

"Yeah, we're together." Daniel said carefully, hoping beyond hope that Matt's attitude had changed when he became a stitchpunk.

"But have you had any fun under the sheets yet?" Daniel sighed seeing Matt hadn't changed a bit. In some ways that was good and in others it was bad.

"No we haven't Daniel said sternly to Matt. "And I _don't _want you operating behind the scenes on this." Daniel said putting emphasis on "don't" and pointing his finger at Matt's face.

"Alright, alright." Matt said putting his hands up. "But what about 9 and 7?" He asked slyly.

"Oh yeah. They have been alright. Embarrassed them in front of 3 and 4 about it too." Daniel told him.

"You didn't." Matt said in mock shock.

"Yep. I spun it so 3 and 4 didn't know what I was talking about but so 9 and 7 knew exactly what I was talking about." Matt let out a peel of laughter.

"Good one!" He said, clutching his stomach. "So where am I going to sleep?" He asked, recovering from the laughter.

"You can bunk in my room until we get you a room." Daniel said, walking towards his room.

"You mean I have to sleep in the same bed as you?" He asked in horror.

"I don't have a bed." Daniel told him. "I have a hammock. And you're not sleeping in that with me. No matter how much you want to."

"Oh funny, funny." Matt said sarcastically. "So where am I going to sleep?"

"I'm sure I can find a shelf or something." Daniel said without turning around.

"Oh you're such a comedian." Matt replied sarcastically. When he saw Daniel hadn't stopped or acknowledged him he suddenly got worried.

"You are joking right?" He yelled, running after Daniel.


	13. A Daring Idea

Authors note: James Dashner is now one of favorite authors. I just bought/read The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials over the week and let me tell you they are awesome! I highly recommend these books to anyone who likes action, adventure, and unexpected turns. Back to the story you want to read. The stitchpunks must now make harder and harder decisions to survive and win the war that humanity started.

**A Daring Idea**

The stitchpunks arose to the sound of Daniel calling from the ground floor.

"Get up or get lost it's time to get started!" He yelled from below. 3, 4, 7, and 9 awoke with a groan. All of them had adopted the same style to waking up over the past few days.. Groaning, shaking their heads, sitting on the edge of the bed wondering what torture they would endure today, then meeting Daniel and Matt downstairs. It had been a few days since Matt had joined their group. So far all they had done was endurance and reaction training, the latter of which had caused many sore areas to linger on their bodies. They had gotten the gun back up to the roof and the vehicle was parked far enough away so that there was no association to the library, but close enough to get to in case the need for escape was necessary.

"You guys coming or not?" They heard Matt yell exuberantly.

"We're coming!" 7 yelled down to him in aggravation.

"Which type?" Matt yelled. This remark was followed by a peel of laughter at his own joke.

"I'm gonna kill him." 7 said angrily, getting out of bed. She probably would've followed through on the threat if 9 hadn't grabbed her arm.

"He's just joking around." 9 said calmly. "Just a take a breath and calm down." In fact he was just as frustrated as 7 but he knew that this was just an attempt to get them out of bed faster. 7 took a deep breath and closed her optics. She had to take three more to get her mechanical heart rate back to normal.

"I know he's joking around but that's not a subject to joke around with." She told him.

"I know." 9 said. "but we just have to let him. Eventually he'll stop getting kicks out of us 'coming'." He said with a slight smile.

"You know. I wouldn't mind doing it again." 7 said with a sly smile. 9 instantly caught on and couldn't hold back his own smile.

"Well we'll just have to schedule one won't we."

"Oh I look forward to it." With that 7 kissed 9, grabbed his hand, and walked out the door with him. When they got down the stairs they saw Matt and Daniel bickering once again.

"I want a rematch!" Matt exclaimed.

"It won't make a difference!" Daniel retorted. "You didn't even the inner rings until your third try!" 9 and 7 snickered along with 3 and 4 at this. The day after Matt officially joined their group he and Daniel had their archery contest. Each of them had five shots to get as many points as possible. The target was set up with ten rings and placed sixteen feet away, and equivalent of eighty feet for them seeing as they were only six inches tall. Daniel had gone first and had gotten a score of 47. The only shot that wasn't a bull's-eye was because a random gust of wind came in a skewed it off to the left. Matt's turn was next and his shots were nothing short of mediocre compared to Daniel's. Matt only achieved a score of 39.

"Still, I want one!" He almost yelled.

"You ain't getting one so shut up about it." Daniel said, waving his hand. "Now I think our spectators here want to know what kind of torture that we'll be inflicting upon them today." He said, indicating 9, 7, 3, and 4. Matt looked at them as if he hadn't even noticed they had arrived. He stated at them for a few seconds then broke out into an evil grin.

"Oh yes." He said happily. "I think they'll enjoy what we have in store for them." This caused all of them to involuntarily gulp, their imaginations running wild at while Matt would be smiling like that. "Shall we head outside and show them?" Matt asked.

"We shall." Daniel said. He held his arm out pointing towards the doorway. They all got up and walked past him still wondering what they would have to endure today. It sounded like Matt and Daniel had devised a new, harder, and probably more painful endurance test. Matt and Daniel followed behind them with wicked grins on their faces. When they got out to the courtyard they all looked around to see if there were any strange or new contraptions lying in wait for them.

"Don't worry." Matt said. "There's no torture devises or renegade machines out here. Just me and Daniel." for some reason this didn't comfort the four stitchpunks. Daniel got in front of the group and led them to a clearing in the courtyard. He stopped here and held his hand out indicating for them to stop. they all did.

"Today we're going to be improving on your fighting technique." Daniel said, turning around to face them.

"And what's wrong with ours?' 7 asked aggressively.

"I'll show you." Daniel said. "Or rather, you'll show you."

"Huh?" She said. Now she was really confused.

"9. 7. Come out here and face each other." he told them. They both looked at each other then walked out in front of him and turned to face each other.

"Good." He said. "Now 9. I want you to throw a punch at 7 as if you were an inexperienced fighter." Both 7 and 9 snapped their heads to look at him in surprise. "7. I want you to block his attack and hold him in submissive stance." Matt snickered at that but instantly stopped when 9, 7, and Daniel glared at him. When he stopped they looked back at Daniel again.

"What are you waiting for?" Daniel asked them. "Hop to it." they both looked at each other and shrugged. 9 threw and clumsy right hook aimed at 7's head. 7 easily caught the punch. While keeping a hold of his hand she knelt down and swept 9's legs out from under him. He cried out and fell but 7 stood back up, twisted his arm, and held it behind his back. She then put her spear to his neck to show she had successfully subdued 9. All of this happened within three seconds.

"Good job." Daniel said, walking up to them and clapping his hands. "You subdued him in almost no time at all." 7 smiled in appreciation. They rarely received such good praise.

"Now let me have a whack at it." He said.

Her smile instantly turned to a look of confusion. She had used the exact same technique that Daniel had taught them. Sure he could probably shave a few milliseconds off her time but what would that accomplish in the means of improving their technique? She looked at 9 who she was still holding with his hand behind his back. He looked back at her with an expression that said 'might as well'. She shrugged and let 9 go. She backed away letting 9 and Daniel face each other.

"You ready?" Daniel asked.

"I guess so." 9 said.

"Alright. I want you to throw the same punch as before." Daniel told him.

"Whatever you say." 9 answered. He took a deep breath then threw the same right hook at Daniel, aiming for the exact same spot. Daniel reacted the same way 7 did and grabbed 9's wrist. What followed can be explained as completely different and exactly the same as what 7 did. He followed the same procedure 7 did but this time 9 was subdued within a second. 3 and 4 started flashing their optics rapidly in surprise at how Daniel had finished the fight so fast. 7 just stood there with her mouth open and Matt had a smirk on his face. Even 9, who knew what would happen, what caught completely off-guard. He couldn't even remember exactly what had happened.

"Now can anybody figure out the difference between what I did and what 7 did?" Daniel asked the group, letting 9 go. All of them wracked their minds but couldn't come up with a logical explanation on why Daniel had been so much faster than 7. Daniel shook his head and sighed.

"The reason why I was faster than 7 was because I blended my attacks." He explained. When he saw they didn't understand he decided a more thorough explanation was needed.

"While 7's counter had pauses in between each step..." He said, pantomiming the steps with an invisible opponent. "My counter blended the steps together." He repeated the steps again but this time they were able to see that he didn't pause in between steps to orient himself.

"So all we need to do is not pause after each step?" 7 asked inquisitively.

"Basically." Daniel said.

"So can I have another try at it?"

"I don't see why not. But be careful."

"How hard can it be?" 7 said smartly. She got into position in front of 9. 9 looked at Daniel in an attempt to get out of this but all Daniel did was shrug. Letting his shoulders fall 9 turned to face 7. After another deep breath he threw the right hook at 7's head. Instantly her hand shot up to catch the blow but this time she was already moving to sweep 9's legs. She felt something brush past her wrist and pain exploded in her temple. She was sent reeling and put her hands to her head. She looked up to see 9 standing there his arm still in movement from the punch.

"What the hell was that 9?" 7 yelled at him in anger.

"I-I didn't mean..." 9 stammered.

"Bullshit!" She yelled. She got up still holding her temple.

"He didn't do anything wrong7. You did." Daniel said calmly. She looked at him in anger. How dare he put this on her!

"I didn't do anything wrong! I did exactly what you said to do!" She yelled.

"Yeah you did. But you missed catching 9's punch." He said. 7 glared at him. What did he mean she missed? Looking back on the incident she remembered the felling of something brushing past her wrist. Could that have been 9's fist?

"It was his fist." Daniel said as if he had read her mind. Now everybody's attention was focused on him. "The reason you missed is because, while this technique is faster, using it means that you have to take your attention off the main action in preparation for the next. This means that your mind has to analyze an attack, process it, think of a counter, remember where the attack is during the counter, and focus on the next step in a matter of milliseconds. This is asking a lot of the brain and only the most advanced fighters can master it. And even then it takes tons of practice. It seems easier here because you know what you're going to do. But think about in a real life or death battle where you have to come up with moves on the top of your head."

They all processed what Daniel had told them. Thinking about it they all saw how this technique could seem so simple, yet be so complicated.

"Matt. do you care to take it away?" Daniel asked with an exaggerated bow.

"Don't mind if I do." He said striding forward. "Since me and Daniel are both experienced fighting with this technique you guys are to practice this technique with each other using the same moves 7 did. You are to practice this until you can perform it thirty times in a row without messing up while me and Daniel formulate the seize of Fort McHenry." With that Matt and Daniel both began to walk back towards the doorway. They all groaned at this, thinking of how many times they were going to punch each other before they were finished.

"Oh. And don't use your weapons." Daniel called back to them. They all looked at him questioningly. "Judging from the first try we won't want any accidental beheadings when you all get that far. Just use scrap poles." They all gulped again thinking about what might've happened if Daniel hadn't called back to them. Once again Matt and Daniel turned back to the library and the four of them began getting into position. They were about to start when something 7's memory clicked.

"Hey Daniel!" She called back to Matt and Daniel. They both turned to look at her. "If you're experienced in this how come you got beat by the Fabrication Machine? I'm pretty sure it wasn't familiar with this technique!"

"The reason I got beat was because I was used to fighting you guys. I had to fight at a lower level to train you guys and I just got too used to it. That's one of the reasons why I'm teaching you guys this technique. So I can fight at a higher level too!" He yelled back. Once again he and Matt turned to head back inside the library.

"I guess that makes sense." 7 said under her breathe. "Okay 9. Get in position." She told him.

"I was hoping that I could try this out first since I was the guinea pig last time." He said hopefully. 7 laughed softly.

"9. When are you going to realize that you're always my guinea pig? Now get into position." She told him. 9 sighed admitting defeat, then got into position. Back in the library Daniel and Matt were busy trying to pull off the impossible.

"That won't work either." Matt said. "There's way too much security around the Fort even if we were able to sneak through the city undetected."

"Well then how are we going to do this?' Daniel almost yelled, slamming his fist against the map that he and Matt had procured. "The city is the only accessible area that we can reach and that doesn't have too much security! Days of the two brightest strategic minds in the world and we haven't thought of Shit!" He yelled, once again slamming his fist on the map.

"God this is frustrating." Matt said, leaning back and putting his hands over his face. "For the first time I wish the U.S. hadn't been so good at choosing defensive positions for their bases."

"The machines did it though. So why can't we?"

"Because the machines were bullet proof, don't feel pain, and have guns."

"Wait a minute. Why'd you say they _were_ bullet proof?" Daniel asked.

"Because when they took the base they had the walkers, but now all they have is bots." Matt told him in a bored voice. He saw fear suddenly appear in Daniel's optics but didn't know why.

"If the Fabrication Machine was already in Fort McHenry that means that it had already infiltrated the base. Right?" Daniel asked, the fear starting to show in his voice.

"Yeah. The machines would've probably used walkers and it would've been easier than taking the other bases but all the machines were taken out by the EMP." Matt said. his confusion for Daniel's fear was also showing in his voice.

"Yeah. But the Fabrication Machine is built with it's own war factory. So what's to say it can't make more walkers?" Daniel asked fearfully. Matt sat straight up realizing where Daniel's fear was coming from...and sharing it.

"Nothing." He said fearfully. "But how come I didn't see any on my scouting trips?"

"It has to find working parts for the walkers." Daniel said. "And there's no doubt it's working on finding and constructing them. By my guess it would take at least three months to find enough working parts and build one. That puts the ETA of an operational walker at about..."

"Halfway through next week." Matt finished solemnly. They both looked at each other, the fear showing clearly in their optics.

"GODDAMN IT!" Matt shouted, standing up so quickly his seat went flying across the room. "We can't stand up against a fully operational walker, no matter how fast we can blend attacks together!" He yelled, pacing around the room and throwing his arm up for emphasis. He then sat down and put his head on his knees.

"It's hopeless" He said in a defeated tone. Daniel stared at him feeling the same despair his friend was. But he knew better than to give up hope, no matter how bad a situation may seem.

"No it's not." Daniel said. "Our cause is our drive and we'll keep that drive alive." He said, trying to inspire his friend.

"Face it Daniel. Our cause is lost once the first red light turns on." At this Daniel's face turned hard.

"No cause is lost if there's one soul left to fight for it." He said sternly, quoting Orlando Bloom from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. "Chances always turn up to..." Suddenly he stopped talking. Matt looked up at his sudden silence.

"What's wro..."

"SHHHHH" Daniel said. He cocked his head to the side as if listening. Matt stayed quiet and listened with Daniel. At first he didn't hear anything, then he heard it. a slight droning sound that was slowly getting louder.

"What the...?" Matt said. Then realization dawned on him. "Plane-bots!" he yelled jumping to his feet. "Have the others noticed?"

"No!" Daniel yelled. "They're probably too focused on training!"

"Then let's get 'em!" He yelled, starting for the doorway.

"No." Daniel said. "You stay inside. I'll get them. The less out there the less likely we are to be seen." With that Daniel rushed to the doorway and out into the courtyard. Matt followed him to the doorway but stayed inside and watched Daniel run to them. They didn't even notice him.

_"He's right"_ Matt thought angrily. _"They're too focused on training to notice anything right now!"_ He watched as Daniel ran up to them as fast as he could .They didn't even notice Daniel until he was two feet away from them.

"Hey Daniel." 7 said. "Here to complement us on how well we're..." She stopped when she saw the serious look in Daniel's optics.

"Get inside!" Daniel said in a strained tone. He was too afraid of being noticed to yell. "There are plane-bots coming now!" They all stood there, caught off-guard with this news. Then they heard the droning and realized that it was getting louder with each passing second. They all bolted towards the library to get inside and hide. Daniel stood there for another second to try and figure out where the bots were coming from. He realized with fear that they were coming from library, still hidden by the high roof. He also realized he wouldn't make it to the library in time to get out of sight.

Matt watched as the four bolted towards the library and dive through the doorway. The thing he didn't see was Daniel.

"Where's Daniel?" He asked 9 in a strained tone, grabbing him by his shoulders. 9 looked around as if just realizing Daniel wasn't there.

"I thought he was right behind us." 9 said. Matt let go of him and looked out into the courtyard. The others followed suit and saw Daniel running for the nearest statue.

"What's he doing?" 7 almost yelled. "Why isn't he heading back here?" But Matt already knew the answer.

"The bots are too close." He said. They all looked at him. "He knows he won't make it to the library without being seen so he's heading for the nearest bit of cover. But it won't be enough." He finished solemnly. They all looked back at Daniel. They all knew that once Daniel was seen the bots would dive and open fire on him. No matter how good he was he couldn't dodge that many bullets. He would be killed and the Fabrication Machine would know where they were. And though they didn't know it, Matt knew that once that happened the walker would be sent here immediately and they would all be killed. It was the beginning of the end. Suddenly 4 jumped up and ran out there as it to join Daniel. Matt shot after her and tackled her just before she got outside.

"Help me bring her in!" He yelled at the others. They all jumped forward to help Matt bring a struggling 4 back inside. Daniel looked back at the commotion and saw them wrestling a struggling and, no doubt, grief wracked 4 inside. He couldn't watch as he had to get to the statue.

4 struggled to go back outside and help Daniel but Matt held her back. He grabbed her head and made her look him straight in the optics.

"There's no point in getting yourself killed too!" He shouted at her. She looked at him and saw the same hurt in his optics. She ripped herself from his grasp and watched as Daniel dove for the cover of the statue. They all watched his futile dive. When he hit the ground right in front of the statue he pressed himself against it and wrapped his dark purple cloak around him. That's when they all got a surprise.

Once he was wrapped the color of the cloak completely matched the background of the stone of the statue and distorted his outline completely. Once they blinked they could no longer even see his outline. They knew where he was but it was like he was invisible. And not a moment too soon. They all heard the plane-bots passing overhead.

The four plane-bots had been flying for four days now in the German Luftwaffe _Schwarm _formation . They had been scouting the towns lying in the general direction of where the stitchpunks had escaped off to with their original target. They flew over a rather large building with statues dotting the courtyard. They trained some of their many eyes over the courtyard but saw nothing out of the ordinary except for what seemed to be lines for some kind of sport. No doubt the humans that lived here had drawn them. They flew over the town and circled it five times, scanning the area methodically. The saw the destroyed husk of a large machine near a base but they were not to linger unless they saw the targets directly. They were to scout town and report any findings to the Fabrication Machine. It would then decide what to do. Not seeing the targets they turned away from the town and headed off to search the next one.

Seeing and hearing the planes leaving Daniel unwrapped himself from his cloak and stood up. To the others it seemed as if he were stepping out of thin air. 4, seeing him, ran to him as fast as she could. Daniel saw her coming and turned toward her. She reached him and wrapped her arms around him so hard he nearly fell over. She then kissed him passionately, interlacing her tongue with his. Daniel, surprised by the passion and intimacy of the kiss, was caught off-guard just like when they first kissed in the basement. But he quickly regained his senses and kissed her back.

The others ran up and waited for the lip-lock to end. Eventually 4 backed off and let the others speak to him, but she kept her arms around him.

"Where did you get that cloak?" 7 and 9 yelled at him happily.

"Later." He told them. He looked at Matt. "While I was under the cloak I realized something." He told him.

"What?" Matt said confused to what this could be about.

"How we're attacking Aberdeen." He said. Matt's optics widened.

"How?" He asked in wonder.

"We're flying." Daniel said with confidence.


End file.
